Harmonised Unemployment Rates (HURs), OECD - Updated: May 2013

The OECD unemployment rate decreased to 8.0% in March 2013, compared with 8.1% in the previous month. However, this small decline masks diverging patterns across countries.

It’s all about people: Jobs, equality and trust

More than five years into an economic crisis which has taken on several names–from subprime crisis and financial crisis to great recession–no term accurately depicts the fundamental result of this economic turbulence: people facing hardship.

Give youth a chance

Young people are being excluded from economic life by a combination of joblessness and barriers to the creation of start-ups. Unleashing the energy, entrepreneurial spirit and technological genius of the young is not just a moral imperative, but an economic necessity.

Making labour markets inclusive

In this time of chronic unemployment, it is all too easy to lose sight of the single greatest trend underlying the long-term labour market: the demographic time bomb in the developed world. Indeed, the defining employment challenge of the future will be not the surplus, but the shortage, of appropriate labour.

Korea should boost support for laid-off workers

Korea should strengthen its social safety net and improve support for laid-off workers to help them find a new job more quickly, according to a new OECD report.

Growth is not enough

Brazil’s labour leaders have long argued against pursuing economic growth for its own sake. What matters most, they believe, is not the size of the economic pie but how it’s carved up. In recent years, calls for social justice have increasingly informed policy in Brazil, bringing about a veritable “revolution” in the economy.

Interns are workers, too

Everyone loses from unpaid internships – young people, society, even businesses. Companies that expect young people to work without pay are excluding graduates and school-leavers whose parents can’t afford to support them. They’re also shrinking the size of their potential talent pool and failing to develop a potentially valuable recruitment tool.

Employment situation, fourth quarter 2012, OECD

The OECD area employment rate – defined as the share of people of working-age who are employed – was 65.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012, 0.1 percentage point higher than in the previous quarter and 0.2 percentage points higher than one year ago.

Improving the economic situation of young people in France

The economic situation of young people is unsatisfactory. Educational inequalities have been widening for over a decade, due to a sharp decline in the results of the most highly disadvantaged students. The unemployment rate for the 20-24 age bracket has not dropped below 16% for nearly 30 years.

Related Documents

• Economic Survey of France 2013

Harmonised Unemployment Rates (HURs), OECD - Updated: April 2013

The OECD unemployment rate decreased to 8.0% in February 2013, compared with 8.1% in the previous month. The unemployment rate in the euro area was stable (at 12.0%) in February, but still 1.1 percentage point higher than its mid-90’s peak.