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OECD unemployment rate rises slightly to 8.3% in October

13/12/11 - The OECD area unemployment rate rose slightly, to 8.3% in October 2011, compared to 8.2% in September. The rate has hovered around this level since January 2011.

The Euro area unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 10.3% in October 2011, the highest rate recorded since the global financial crisis. The Netherlands (at 4.8%) and Spain (at 22.8%) both registered strong increases (0.3 percentage point). Spain's rate now stands 14.9 percentage points higher than its previous low of 7.9% in July 2007. By contrast, in Germany the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 5.5%, continuing a sustained decline seen since the 8.0% peak in mid-2009.

New unemployment rate data for November 2011 show a decline in the United States (down by 0.4 percentage point to 8.6%) and a small increase for the second consecutive month in Canada (up by 0.1 percentage point to 7.4%).