Labour market conditions continued to improve in October, according to new data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The jobless rate in the OECD area edged down to 5.7% from 5.8% in October, marking the sixth consecutive monthly decline.

But, despite the recent trend, the unemployment rate remained 0.5 percentage points above its pre-pandemic level, and the number of unemployed workers was still elevated (up 2.8 million from the pre-Covid mark), the OECD said.

In October, improvement came among male workers, whereas unemployment remained stable for women at 6.0%, compared with 5.5% for men (down from 5.6%).

For Canada, the unemployment rate declined in October, and fell further in November, the OECD noted.

Similarly, the jobless rate was down in the U.S. in October, and again in November.

Unemployment was also down in Europe for October, but ticked up in a couple of countries, including Italy, Australia and Korea.