The unemployment rate in the OECD area (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) continued to decline in October 2020, to 7.1%, from 7.3% in September, but remained about 2.0% above the level observed in February, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit the labour market.

The unemployment rate decreased slightly faster among women (down to 7.2% in October, from 7.5% in September) than among men (down to 6.9%, from 7.1%) in OECD countries, narrowing the gap to 0.3%, from 0.9% in April.

The OECD area unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24) fell to 14.4% (from 14.7% in September and well below its peak of 19.0% in April 2020).

In the euro area, the unemployment rate decreased marginally to 8.4% in October (remaining 1.2% above its February level). There were decreases of 0.2% or more in France (to 8.6%), Latvia (to 8.0%), Luxembourg (to 6.5%) and Portugal (to 7.5%). By contrast, the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage point in the Slovak Republic (to 7.0) and Slovenia (to 4.9%).

Across APAC, the unemployment rate grew slightly to 7.0% in Australia in October 2020 from 6.9% in September 2020. It also grew by 0.1% in Japan to 3.1% in October 2020. South Korea saw an increase from 3.9% in September to 4.2% in October.

The OECD added that some care is needed in interpreting recent falls in the OECD unemployment rate, as this largely reflects the return of temporary laid-off workers in the US and Canada, where they are recorded as unemployed whereas temporary lay-offs are typically recorded as employed in most other countries

Elsewhere outside Europe, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.0% in the US (to 6.9%), reflecting the decline in the number of people on temporary lay-off. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.3% in Colombia (to 16.3%), showed minor changes in Canada (at 8.9%), and Mexico (at 4.6%). More recent data for November show that the unemployment rate declined further in the US (to 6.7%) and Canada (to 8.5%).