The monthly unemployment rate in the OECD area fell to 5.5 % in November 2021, from 5.7 % in October, extending the trend of reducing unemployment rates into a seventh consecutive month. However, it remained 0.2 percentage point above the pre-pandemic rate recorded in February 2020. The number of unemployed workers across the OECD area also continued to fall, by 1.1 million, reaching 36.9 million, which was still 1.5 million above the pre-pandemic level.
The unemployment rate in the OECD area declined among both women (to 5.8 %, from 5.9 % in October) and men (to 5.3 %, from 5.5 %). For younger people (aged 15 to 24), it fell slightly to 11.8 % from 11.9 % in October and remained 0.3 percentage point above its pre-pandemic level.
The Euro Area also recorded a decrease in the unemployment rate for the seventh month in a row in November (to 7.2 %, from 7.3 % in October), with declines of 0.3 percentage point or more in Austria (to 5.3 %, from 5.7 % in October), Lithuania (to 6.0 %, from 6.5 %) and Spain (to 14.1 %, from 14.4 %). By contrast, it increased by 0.3 percentage point, to 7.3 %, in Latvia.
In November, the unemployment rate fell by 0.4 percentage point or more in Australia (to 4.6 %, from 5.2 % in October), Canada (to 6.0 %, from 6.7 %), Colombia (to 12.5 %, from 13.0 %), the Czech Republic (to 2.2 %, from 2.6 %), Israel (to 4.5 %, from 4.9 %) and the United States (to 4.2 %, from 4.6 %). It also declined, to a lesser extent, in Korea (to 3.1 %, from 3.2 %) and Mexico (to 3.8 %, from 3.9 %), while it rose slightly in Japan (to 2.8 %, from 2.7 %). More recent data show that in December the unemployment rate declined further in Canada (to 5.9 %) and the United States (to 3.9 %).
The fall in the OECD area unemployment rate when compared with the April 2020 peak should be interpreted with caution, as it largely reflects the return of temporary laid-off workers in the United States and Canada, where they are recorded as unemployed, unlike in most other countries, including European member states, where they are recorded as employed. In addition, methodological changes to the EU Labour Force Survey blur the comparison for several European Union countries between December 2020 and subsequent months.[1] Furthermore, the unemployment rate may conceal additional slack in the labour market as some non-employed people may be “out of the labour force”, either because they are not able to actively look for work or are not available to work.
In November (or in latest period available), unemployment rates were below the pre-pandemic level in Australia, Chile, France, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and Turkey[2].
Notes:
(1) Breaks between December 2020 and January 2021 for several EU Member States can affect aggregates for the euro area and OECD Total.
Visit the interactive OECD Data Portal to explore these data further.
(2) Source: OECD calculations based on US Current Population Survey
..: not available
Notes:
(1) Provisional data for Austria and Italy, for Germany from February 2021.
(2) Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Sweden: from January 2021, data are compliant with the new Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) Framework Regulation, while prior to this date, data refer to the former definition.
(3) Canada: Unemployment rate for December 2021 was 5.9%.
(4) Mexico: April, May and June 2020 monthly figures are based on the INEGI Encuesta Telefónica de Ocupación y Empleo (ETOE) phone survey. These data are not strictly comparable with the results for earlier months. Data from July 2020 are based on the new Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo (ENOE) survey, combining telephone and face-to-face interviews.
(5) United States: Unemployment rate for December 2021 was 3.9%
..: not available
Notes:
(1) Provisional data for Austria and Italy, for Germany from February 2021.
(2) Belgium and Slovenia: For youth unemployment, quarterly data are shown.
(3) Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Slovak republic, Slovenia and Sweden: from January 2021, data are compliant with the new Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) Framework Regulation, while prior to this date, data refer to the former definition.
(4) Israel: Data shown in this table are not seasonally adjusted.
(5) Mexico: April, May and June 2020 monthly figures are based on the INEGI ETOE phone survey. These data are not strictly comparable with the results for earlier months. Data from July 2020 are based on the New ENOE survey, combining telephone and face-to-face interviews.
..: not available
Notes:
(1) Provisional data for Austria and Italy, for Germany from February 2021.
(2) Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia and Sweden: from January 2021, data are compliant with the new Integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) Framework Regulation, while prior to this date, data refer to the former definition.
(3) Mexico: April, May and June 2020 monthly figures are based on the INEGI ETOE phone survey. These data are not strictly comparable with the results for earlier months. Data from July 2020 are based on the New ENOE survey, combining telephone and face-to-face interviews.
Note: Employment and unemployment statistics during the COVID-19 crisis
The broad comparability of unemployment data across OECD countries is achieved through the adherence of national statistics to International Guidelines from the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) – the so-called ILO guidelines.
Departures from these guidelines may however exist across countries depending on national circumstances (e.g. statistical environment, national regulations and practices). Typically, these departures have only a limited impact on broad comparability of employment and unemployment statistics. However, the unprecedented impact of COVID-19[3] is amplifying divergences and affects the cross-country comparability of unemployment statistics in this news release.
This concerns in particular the treatment of persons on temporary layoff or employees furloughed by their employers. These are persons not at work during the survey reference week due to economic reasons and business conditions (i.e. lack of work, shortage of demand for goods and services, business closures or business moves).
According to ILO guidelines, ‘employed’ persons include those who, in their present job, were ‘not at work’ for a short duration but maintained a job attachment during their absence (ILO, 2013 and 2020). Job attachment is determined on the basis of the continued receipt of remuneration, and/or the total duration of the absence. In practice, formal or continued job attachment is established when:
- the expected total duration of the absence is up to three months (which can be more than three months, if the return to employment in the same economic unit is guaranteed and, in the case of the pandemic, once the restrictions in place – where applicable – are lifted)
OR
- workers continue to receive remuneration from their employer, including partial pay, even if they also receive support from other sources, including government schemes.
In turn persons are classified as ‘not employed’ if:
- The expected total duration of absence is greater than three months or there is no or unknown expected return to the same economic unit
AND
- People in this condition do not receive any part of their remuneration from their employer.
Not-employed persons are classified as ‘unemployed’ if they fulfil the criteria of active “job search”[4] and “availability” specified for the measurement of unemployment.
However, departures from these guidelines in national practices do exist. In North America persons on temporary layoff are considered to be “only weakly or not at all attached to their job and are to be counted as unemployed” (Sorrentino, 2000). In the United States, people on temporary layoff are classified as ‘unemployed’ if they expect to be recalled to their job within six months. If they have not been given a date to return to work by their employer and if they have no expectation to return to work within six months, they need to fulfil the “job search” criteria to be classified as ‘unemployed’. For the latest US figures “people who were effectively laid off due to pandemic-related closures were counted among the unemployed on temporary layoff” without further testing for their return to their previous job (BLS, 2020). In Canada, persons in temporary layoff are also classified as ‘unemployed’ if they have a date of return or an indication that they will be recalled by their employers.
Conversely, persons on temporary layoff are classified as employed (not at work) in Europe, as recommended by the ILO Guidelines (Eurostat, 2016). In practice, formal job attachment is tested on the basis of (i) an assurance of return to work within a period of three months or (ii) the receipt of half or more of their wage or salary from their employer. Somewhat stricter than ILO guidance, absences during COVID-19 crisis whose duration is unknown are treated as absences longer than three months. Those failing to satisfy these two criteria are classified as unemployed if they are “available to start work” (over the next two weeks) and have actively searched for a job in the last four weeks. All other persons on layoff are classified as inactive.
References
BLS (2020), Frequently asked questions: The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on The Employment Situation for March 2020, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2020, Washington DC. https://www.bls.gov/cps/employment-situation-covid19-faq-march-2020.pdf
Eurostat (2016), EU Labour Force Survey Explanatory notes, Eurostat, March 2016, Luxembourg. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1978984/6037342/EU-LFS-explanatory-notes-from-2016-onwards.pdf
ILO (2013), Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization, 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), Geneva. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—stat/documents/normativeinstrument/wcms_230304.pdf
ILO (2020), COVID-19: Guidance for labour statistics data collection, International Labor Organisation (ILO), Geneva. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—stat/documents/publication/wcms_741145.pdf
- Sorrentino (2000), International unemployment rates: how comparable are they?, Monthly Labor Review, June 2000, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Washington DC. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2000/06/art1full.pdf
[1] See methodological notes at the end of this new release.
[2] European countries still showing a break in their unemployment series reflecting methodological changes in the EU Labour Force Survey in January 2021 are necessarily excluded from this list.
[3] Broad comparability is ensured during normal business conditions, while divergences are potentially exacerbated during economic and financial crises, such as the Great Recession or the Covid-19 crisis.
[4] Some people not in employment may be classified as “inactive/out of the labour force” because, due to the pandemic, they are either not able to actively look for a job even if they are available to work or are not available to work because of family responsibilities as schools and care services are closed.