The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) announced that the overall unemployment rate stood at 5.2% in December 2018, stable compared to the previous month. Across the OECD countries, 33.4 million people were unemployed.

The unemployment rate was also stable in the euro area in December, at 7.9%, with the largest decrease observed in Italy (down 0.2%, to 10.3%).

Between December 2017 and December 2018, the unemployment rate declined by 0.3% across the OECD, and by 0.7% in the euro area.

In Japan, the unemployment rate fell by 0.1%, to 2.4%, while it was stable in Canada (at 5.6%) and Korea (at 3.8%), in December.

The unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point in Israel (to 4.3%) and the US (to 3.9%) and by 0.3% in Mexico (to 3.6%). More recent data show that in January 2019 the unemployment rate increased further in the US, by 0.1%, to 4.0%, while it also increased in Canada (by 0.2 percentage point, to 5.8%).

The largest year-on-year falls (1.0% or more) among OECD countries were recorded in Greece (between November 2017 and November 2018, the latest month available), Spain, Finland, the Slovak Republic, Portugal and Latvia.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate increased year-on-year by 1.3% in Turkey (between October 2017 and October 2018) and less significantly in Chile (between November 2017 and November 2018), Israel, Mexico and Korea.

The OECD unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24), stood at 11.2% in December, an increase of 0.2% compared to the previous month and a decrease of 0.2% compared to the year before.