The OECD unemployment rate remained stable at 5.0% in December 2025, having been at or just below this mark since April 2022 (Figure 1).1 The unemployment rate also held steady in 22 of the 32 OECD countries, where data were available, compared with November 2025. It fell in seven countries, while it rose in Canada, Colombia, and Korea. Mexico and Japan recorded unemployment rates at or below 3.0%, whereas Spain and Finland continued to report double-digit unemployment rates (Table 1).
Compared with December 2024, the unemployment rate was broadly stable in seven OECD countries, including Canada and Japan. It decreased in eight countries, with the sharpest declines recorded in Greece, Denmark and Estonia. Conversely, the unemployment rate rose over the same period in 17 OECD countries, with the largest increases – 1.6 percentage points (p.p.)– observed in both Finland and Slovenia (Figure 2).
In December 2025, the OECD unemployment rate for youth workers (aged 15 to 24) declined slightly to 11.2%, 7.0 p.p. higher than the rate for workers aged 25 and over, and fell by more than 2.0 p.p. compared with November in Finland, Greece, Norway, and Sweden. Across the OECD, it exceeded 20% in five OECD countries in December (or for the latest available period). By contrast, Israel and Japan reported the lowest youth unemployment rates in the OECD area (Figure 3 and Table 4). The OECD unemployment rates for women, men, and workers aged 25 and over remained broadly stable compared with November 2025 (Tables 3 and 4).
In December 2025, unemployment rates in both the European Union (5.9%) and the euro area (6.2%) remained broadly stable compared with November 2025, hovering at or near their record lows. Among the OECD euro area countries, Finland saw a slight decrease, mainly driven by lower unemployment among men aged 25 and over. Meanwhile, Greece experienced a more pronounced drop, largely reflecting decreases across all groups except women aged 15 to 24 (Figure 4).
Outside the euro area, the unemployment rate was stable in December 2025 for the seven OECD countries with available data. Colombia and Korea recorded the largest increases, primarily driven by the unemployment of men aged 15 to 24 in Colombia and those of women aged 25 and over in Korea. In Korea, the unemployment rate for this group reached 4.6%, its highest since January 2021. By contrast, the unemployment rate declined in five OECD countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and Türkiye, where it fell to its lowest level since the start of the series in 2005. The sharpest decline, was observed in Türkiye, driven largely by a decrease in unemployment among men aged 25 and over (Figure 4 and Table 1). More timely estimates for January 2026 show that the unemployment rate for Canada fell by 0.3 p.p. to 6.5% while it remained broadly stable at 4.3% in the United States.
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- Next release: 12 March 2026
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