By TIOL News Service

PARIS, JULY 10, 2018: THE OECD unemployment rate fell in May 2018 by 0.1 percentage point for the second consecutive month, to 5.2%. Across the OECD area (now including Lithuania), 33.2 million people were unemployed, 0.5 million more than in April 2008, but 16.1 million less than at its peak in January 2013.

In the euro area, the unemployment rate was stable in May (at 8.4%), with rates declining by 0.3 percentage point in Italy (to 10.7%) and by 0.2 percentage point in Austria (to 4.6%) and Spain (to 15.8%). By contrast, it increased by 0.1 percentage point (to 7.3%) in Portugal.

The unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point in Japan (to 2.2%), by 0.2 percentage point in Australia (to 5.4%) and Mexico (to 3.2%), and by 0.1 percentage point in the United States (to 3.8%). It was stable in Canada (at 5.8%) while it increased by 0.2 percentage point in Korea (to 4.0%). More recent data show that in June, the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage point in Canada (to 6.0%) and the United States (to 4.0%).

The OECD unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24) was stable at 10.9% in May. The youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage point in the euro area, to 16.8%, with declines by 0.5 percentage point or more in Italy, Latvia and Spain. However, the youth unemployment rate remained above 30% in Greece (43.2% in March, the latest month available), Spain (33.8%) and Italy (31.9%).