The unemployment rate for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development remained unchanged at 4.9% in October 2024, having been at or just below 5.0% since March 2022.

When compared with September, October unemployment rates were unchanged in 19 OECD countries, declined in seven and rose in five. The declines were seen in Czechia, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico and Sweden.

Five OECD countries recorded an unemployment rate below 3.0%; only Colombia and Spain registered a double-digit rate despite a trend decline in Spain. The number of unemployed persons in the OECD area increased slightly to a total of 34.1 million.

In the European Union and the euro area, unemployment rates remained at record lows of 5.9% and 6.3%, respectively, in October. The unemployment rate was stable in two-thirds of the 17 OECD euro area countries and continued to fall in Italy and Lithuania.

In Italy, the cumulative drop in the unemployment rate since October 2023 reached 2.0%, with the rate falling to its lowest level since the start of the series in January 1983. The unemployment rate rose in Finland, Greece, and Slovenia.

Outside Europe, unemployment rates increased in Colombia and South Korea in October but were stable or decreased in all other OECD countries.

Mexico’s unemployment rate declined to 2.5%, the lowest rate recorded in the OECD along with Japan. Compared to October 2024, data for November 2024 shows unemployment rates increased to 6.8% in Canada while it remained broadly stable at 4.2% in the US.

Meanwhile, OECD unemployment rates for both women and men were broadly stable in October 2024, at 5.1% and 4.8%, respectively.

The unemployment rate for women exceeded that of men in the OECD area, the EU, and the euro area but was higher for men in the G7 area and in slightly more than half of the 38 OECD countries in October 2024 (or in the latest period available).

Latvia had the largest gender gap in favour of women in the OECD area, with an unemployment rate for men exceeding that of women by 2.9%, while Colombia and Turkey had the largest in favour of men, with a 3.9% and 5.6% difference, respectively. For Hungary and Mexico, the unemployment rates for women and men were equal.

In October 2024, the OECD unemployment rate was unchanged among younger workers (aged 15-24) and workers aged 25 and above.

At 11.3%, the youth unemployment rate stood 7.2% above the unemployment rate for workers aged 25 and above and increased by more than 1.0% compared to September in Latvia, Colombia, South Korea, Australia, and Greece. Youth unemployment remained above 20% in nine OECD countries in October (or in the latest available period). By contrast, Japan and Israel recorded the lowest rates in the OECD area, at or below 4.0%.