OECD unemployment rate falls to 8.5 percent in August

[News_Editor]

OECD unemployment rate falls to 8.5 percent in August

2010-10-12 17:53:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- The unemployment rate in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member states fell by 0.1 percent in August.

In August, the unemployment rate for the OECD area was 8.5 percent, which is down from 8.6 percent in July. "The unemployment rate has returned to August 2009 levels and unemployment now appears stable across OECD countries," the organization said.

According to the OECD, evidence of stable unemployment levels can be seen in the latest data from the United States and Canada. In the Untied States, September unemployment rates remained unchanged from its August level, at 9.6 percent. In Canada, the national unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percent to 8.0 percent.

"However, the OECD unemployment rate remains close to post-war highs," the organization cautioned, adding that the unemployment rate was the highest in Spain with 20.5 percent. Other countries with high unemployment rates in August were the Slovak Republic (14.6 percent), Ireland (13.9 percent), Hungary (10.9 percent) and Portugal (10.7 percent).

In contrast, South Korea had the lowest unemployment rate with 3.4 percent. This was followed by Austria with 4.3 percent and the Netherlands with 4.5 percent.

The number of unemployed persons in OECD countries stood at 45.5 million in August, an increase of 13.4 million compared with July 2008.

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