The overall unemployment rate is holding stable, but national jobless rates are diverging, says the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in a new report.
The OECD reports that the overall area unemployment rate was stable at 8.2% in November, remaining unchanged since August. The rate has hovered at this level since January 2011. “However, stability at the aggregate level masks different national situations,” it says.
The Euro area’s unemployment rate remained at 10.3% in November, which is the highest rate recorded since the start of the global financial crisis. The OECD says that this reflects ongoing increases in the unemployment rates for Portugal (at 13.2%), Spain (at 22.9%), Italy (at 14.6%) and more lately the Netherlands (at 4.9%) offset by sustained declines in the unemployment rates for Germany (at 5.5%) and Belgium (at 7.2%).
In North America, rates are diverging, too, with Canada’s rate heading higher, while the U.S. rate declines. The U.S. saw a fourth consecutive monthly decline in December to 8.5%, the OECD reports, whereas Canada suffered a third consecutive increase, albeit remaining lower than the U.S. at 7.5%.