The OECD area employment rate — the share of working-age people in employment — rose in the fourth quarter to a level just shy of its pre-crisis peak in the first quarter of 2008, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s quarterly employment situation report released Tuesday.

http://www.oecd.org/std/labour-stats/QES-0416.pdf

Total increase in the 34-country OECD area was 0.2 of a percentage point in the fourth quarter (compared to the third quarter) to an employment rate of 66.5%.

The euro area employment rate rose 0.1 percentage point to 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Spain posted the highest quarterly increase, going up 0.6 percentage points to 58.6%.

Outside the euro area, the employment rate rose by 0.5 of a percentage point in the United Kingdom to 73.2%. In Japan, Korea, the US and Turkey, the increases were more moderate at 0.2 of a percentage point or less.

The country with the highest employment rate among the 34 countries was Iceland with an employment rate of 85.2%. It was followed by Switzerland at 80.6%

Turkey posted the lowest employment rate at 50.4%.