OECD unemployment rate nudges up to 5.1% in January 2020
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11/03/2020 – The OECD unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point, to 5.1%, in January 2020. Across the OECD area, 32.9 million people were unemployed.
In January 2020, the unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage point in Mexico (to 3.6%), by 0.3 percentage point in Korea (to 4.0%), by 0.2 percentage point in Australia (to 5.3%) and Japan (to 2.4%), and by 0.1 percentage point in the United States (to 3.6%). By contrast, it decreased by 0.1 percentage point in Canada (to 5.5%) and was stable in the euro area, at 7.4% for the fourth consecutive month.
More recent data for February show that the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point in the United States (to 3.5%) and increased by 0.1 percentage point in Canada (to 5.6%).
In January 2020, the OECD unemployment rate for women (up by 0.1 percentage point, to 5.2%) remained higher than that for men (stable at 5.0%); the difference between the two rates has remained below 0.3 percentage point since February 2019. In the euro area, the unemployment rate for women was 0.6 percentage point higher than that for men,while in the United States and Japan, the unemployment rate for women was below that of men by, respectively, 0.1 and 0.2 percentage point.
The OECD unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24) increased by 0.2 percentage point in January 2020, to 11.0%, interrupting a streak of four consecutive monthly decreases.
Link to underlying data – Source: Labour Force Statistics |
