The October 2025 unemployment rate remained stable, compared with September, in 21 of the 32 OECD countries where data were available. Seven OECD countries saw an increase in their unemployment rate, and four experienced a decline (Table 1). Mexico, Korea, Japan, and Israel registered unemployment rates at or below 3.0%. In contrast, Spain maintained a double-digit unemployment rate of 10.5%, while Finland hit 10.3%, its highest level since July 1999 (Figure 1 and Table 1). As several countries have not yet released their statistics for October 2025, unemployment rates for the OECD and the G7 areas are currently unavailable.*
In the European Union and the euro area, unemployment rates in October 2025 remained unchanged at 6.0% and 6.4% — both 0.2 percentage points (p.p.) above their record lows from October and November 2024, respectively. Among the 17 OECD euro area countries, unemployment rates were stable in 13 countries in October 2025. A notable increase was observed in Finland where the rise in the unemployment rate was driven by women and men aged 15–24, and women aged 25-and-over. Smaller increases were also recorded in Austria and Slovenia. Italy was the sole country to record a decline (Figure 4 and Table 1).
Outside the euro area, the unemployment rate were stable in more than half of OECD countries with data available for October 2025. Sweden and Colombia registered the largest increases, both driven primarily by women aged 25-and-over. By contrast, the unemployment rate fell in Norway, Canada and Australia. The decrease in Norway’s and Canada’s unemployment rates were largely attributed to men aged 25-and-over, while young women accounted for most of the decrease in Australia (Figure 4 and Table 1). More timely estimates for Canada show that the unemployment rate fell 0.4 p.p. to 6.5% in November 2025.
In October 2025, or in the latest period for which data were available, the unemployment rate for men exceeded that of women in 19 OECD countries. Unemployment rates for women and men were the same in France and in the United States. (Figure 2 and Table 3). The youth unemployment rate was higher than that of workers aged 25-and-over in all OECD countries in October 2025, or in the latest period for which data were available. The smallest gap was recorded in Japan, while the largest differences were recorded in Spain, Finland, and Colombia (Figure 3 and Table 4).
* Due to missing data for Chile, Costa Rica, the United Kingdom, and the United States, October figures for the OECD area are not available yet. For Chile, Costa Rica, and the United States, as well as for the OECD area, the unemployment rate for September 2025 is reported; for the United Kingdom, August 2025; for Switzerland, Q2 2025; for New Zealand, Q3 2025.
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