The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports that the unemployment rate for the OECD region was stable at 8.0% inDecember 2012, although the experience of various countries continues to differ dramatically.
TheParis-based OECD says that trends in unemployment rates across OECD countries have diverged significantly since the beginning of the economic and financial crisis. For example, unemployment rates were significantly below the peaks they reached in the aftermath of the crisis inCanadaand theUnited States (1.7and 2.1percentage pointslower, respectively).
Whereas, inDecember, the unemployment rate inJapanwas close to its pre-crisis level. In Germany, the rate was significantly below that level. Whereas, the unemployment rate reached a new peak recently in several European countries, includingFrance,Italy, andPortugal. And, for Greece the rate hit 26.8% inOctober, which is the latest month of available data.
The group reports that the unemployment ratewas stablein theU.S. in December, and it fell in Canada(by 0.1 percentage points to 7.1%), but rose in Japan. And, that more recent data referring for January, shows that the unemployment raterose in theU.S., while it continued to fall inCanada(by 0.1 percentage point to 7.0%).
It also says that the unemployment rateinthe euro areahasbeen stable for two consecutive months, for the first time since May 2011, after 17 months ofuninterrupted increase.
Overall, there were 48.2million people unemployed in the OECD area inDecember 2012, up by 13.5million from July 2008.