OECD figures put EMU's unemployment at 10%, US's at 9%

Link analyst note | “The unemployment rate among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) remained stable in July compared to June, at 8.2%, a level maintained for the fifth consecutive month. The OECD notes that the largest increase in that month was recorded in Luxembourg (three tenths, up to 4.6%), while the largest fall was in Mexico (five tenths, down to 5.3%).

Spain, where the unemployment rate in July rose two tenths to 21.2%, again recorded, another month, the highest rate of unemployment among OECD countries for which data are available, followed by Ireland (14.5%), Slovakia (13.4%), and Portugal (12.3%).

Similarly, the OECD also stressed that the unemployment data in the euro zone remained, for the second consecutive month, at 10.0%, the level at which the unemployment rate of the European monetary union has been since December 2010. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in August in the U.S. held steady at 9.1%, while in Canada it increased by one tenth to 7.3%. This, according to the OECD, confirms the current scenario of “broad stability” in unemployment rates.

Finally, the OECD notes that in July 2011 the number of unemployed in the member countries of the institution reached 44,500,000, two million less than in the same month of 2010, but 11,400,000 more than in July 2008.”