The OECD employment rate remained stable in Q3 2025 compared with the previous quarter, at a record high of 70.3% (Figure 1). Over the same period, employment rates held steady in 16 OECD countries, declined in 12, and increased in 9 (Table 1). Türkiye continued to record the lowest employment rate (55.1%) among OECD countries in Q3 2025. By contrast, employment rates exceeded 80% in Japan and the Netherlands (Figure 2). OECD labour force participation among individuals aged 15 to 64 also remained at a record high of 74.1%. Just over two-thirds of OECD countries reported rates above this benchmark in Q3 2025. Türkiye, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Italy recorded the lowest participation rates, all below 70% (Table 2).
Compared with the same quarter in 2024, the OECD employment rate was unchanged in Q3 2025. The euro area employment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points (p.p.) over this period, driven by a growing participation rate. In the United Kingdom, a rising unemployment rate was partly balanced by increasing labour force participation, leaving the employment rate largely unchanged between Q3 2024 and Q3 2025. The largest year-on-year increases in employment rates were recorded in Colombia, Latvia, Portugal, and Greece (all over 1.0 p.p.), driven by falling unemployment in Colombia and rising participation in the other three countries. Conversely, employment rates fell in New Zealand and Costa Rica. In both countries, the decline was mainly due to lower participation rates, partly offset in Costa Rica by a decline in unemployment (Figure 3).
In November 2025, the OECD unemployment rate remained broadly stable at 5.0% compared with September 2025, the closest month for which unemployment statistics for the OECD area are available (Table 3 and Figure 4).* It was broadly stable for both women and men as well as for younger workers (aged 15-24) and workers aged 25 and above (Tables 5 and 6). In November, unemployment rates in the European Union (6.0%), the euro area (6.3%), as well as in 23 OECD countries remained largely unchanged compared with October*. Unemployment rates increased in 4 countries and declined in 5 others, with Colombia reaching a record low of 8.2%. More timely estimates for December 2025 show that the unemployment rate increased by 0.3 p.p. to 6.8% in Canada, while it remained broadly stable in the United States, at 4.4%.
Figure 1 – Labour market situation in the OECD area
Employment, labour force and inactive population, Q3 2025, and unemployment, November 2025, seasonally adjusted
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