Harmonised Unemployment Rates (HURs), OECD - Updated: February 2012

OECD unemployment rate remains stable at 8.2% in December 2011 but national rates continue to diverge

14/02/2012 - The OECD area unemployment rate, unchanged at 8.2% December 2011, continued to show the stability seen throughout 2011.
The Euro area's unemployment rate was also unchanged at 10.4% in December, a continuing record high since the start of the global financial crisis. This however masks large differences in national rates. Spain (22.9%), Ireland (14.5%), Portugal (13.6%), and the Slovak Republic (13.4%) all recorded high unemployment rates in December 2011, while Austria (4.1%), the Netherlands (4.9%), Luxembourg (5.2%) and Germany (5.5%) continue to exhibit lower unemployment rates.