OECD unemployment rate stable at 6.4 % in April 2016
The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 6.4 % in April 2016, 1.7 percentage points below the January 2013 peak. Across the OECD area, 39.4 million people were unemployed, 9.4 million less than in January 2013, but still 6.8 million more than in April 2008, before the crisis.
In the euro area, the unemployment rate remained at 10.2 % on average in April. Unemployment rates fell by 0.2 percentage point in France (to 9.9 %) and Spain (to 20.1 %) but increased by 0.2 percentage point in Italy (to 11.7 %, back to its February level).
The unemployment rate was also stable in Canada (at 7.1 %), Japan (at 3.2 %) and the United States (at 5.0 %). It decreased by 0.1 percentage point in Korea (to 3.7 %) and Mexico (to 4.0 %). More recent data show that in May 2016 the unemployment rate fell by 0.3 percentage point in the United States, to 4.7 %.
The OECD youth unemployment rate (15-24 year-olds) fell by 0.1 percentage point, to 13.0 % in April. However, monthly developments differ across countries: the youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percentage point in the euro area (to 21.1 %) and by 0.9 percentage point in Japan (to 4.9 %) but increased by 0.4 percentage point in the United States (to 10.8 %).