The employment rate for the OECD area (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), fell by 4.0%, year-on-year, to 64.6%, in the second quarter of 2020, its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2010.

When compared to the previous quarter, the OECD employment rate also fell by 4.0%.

Across the OECD area, 560 million persons were in employment in the second quarter of 2020, 34 million less than in the previous quarter.

OECD added that caution is needed in interpreting the latest data however, as a large part of the fall in the second quarter reflects a significant increase in furloughed workers in the US and Canada, where this category of worker is recorded as unemployed whereas they are recorded as employed in most other countries.

The employment rate in Australia stood at 70.5% in Q2, down from 74.2% in Q2 2019 and down from 74.6% in Q1 2020.

Japan’s employment rate fell by 0.6% compared to the previous year and fell by 1.0% compared to Q1 2020. South Korea’s employment rate fell by 1.3% compared to both Q2 2019 and the previous quarter.

New Zealand’s employment rate fell by 0.8% compared to both Q2 2019 and the previous quarter.

In the euro area the employment rate decreased year-on-year by 1.7% to 66.2% in the second quarter of 2020. Turkey saw a year-on-year decrease of 4.6% while Israel reported a decrease of 2.3%.

In Canada the employment rate dropped by 9.8% and in the US it fell by 8.7%.

Employment rates fell by 4.2% for males, year-on-year while it fell by 3.9% for women.

Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate (aged 15-24) stood at 36.3% while ‘prime-age workers’ (aged 25-54) recorded an unemployment rate of 74.7% in Q2 2020 and older workers (55-64) recorded an unemployment rate of 59.3%.