The employment rate for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) area rose to 66.8% in the first quarter of 2021, from 66.7% in the previous quarter.

In Japan, the employment rate fell year-on-year by 0.3% to 77.6% in the first quarter. The employment rate rose by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter.

The Australia employment rate rose by 0.8% in Q1 compared to Q4. When compared to Q1 the employment rate fell by 0.2% to 74.3%. In South Korea, the employment rate stood at 65.7%, steady from Q4 and down from 66.8% the year prior. In New Zealand the employment rate stood at 76.9%, up 0.3% from the previous quarter and down from 77.5% the year prior.

In the euro area, the employment rate stood at 66.9% in the first quarter of 2021. A large disparity was observed within the area, with the employment rate ranging from a maximum of 79.3% in the Netherlands to a minimum of 53.9% in Greece.

In the first quarter of 2021, the employment rate among youth (aged 15 to 24) in the OECD area stood at 39.9% with a clear divergence between the youth employment rate in the euro area (32.2%) and that for Japan (46.8%) and the US (48.9%).

In the OECD area, the employment rate among women (at 59.6%) remained more than 14% lower than among men (at 74.2%).

 The OECD area labour force participation rate (i.e. the share of people of working-age who are either employed or unemployed) stood at 71.8%.