The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 5.4% in July 2007, the same as the previous month and 0.6 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the standardised unemployment rate was 6.9% in July 2007, also the same as the previous month and 0.9 percentage point lower than a year earlier. The United States’ standardised unemployment rate for August 2007 was 4.6%, the same as the previous month and 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 3.5% in July 2007, 0.2 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.5 percentage point lower than in July 2006.

In July 2007, the standardised unemployment rate in France was 8.5%, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.9 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 6.4% in July 2007, the same as the previous month and 1.8 percentage point lower than in July 2006. For Canada, the standardised unemployment rate was 6.0% in July 2007, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In March 2007, the standardised unemployment rate in Italy was 6.1%, the same as the previous month and 1.2 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In May 2007, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.3%, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier.