The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 5.5% in February 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.2 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the standardised unemployment rate was 7.1% in February 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.5 percentage point lower than a year earlier. The United States’ standardised unemployment rate for March 2008 was 5.1%, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.7 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 3.9% in February 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.1 percentage point lower than in February 2007.

In February 2008, the standardised unemployment rate in France was 7.8%, the same as the previous month and 0.9 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.4% in February 2008, 0.2 percentage point lower than the previous month and 1.3 percentage point lower than in February 2007. For Canada, the standardised unemployment rate was 6.0% in March 2008, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In December 2007, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.0%, the same as the previous month and 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In December 2007, the standardised unemployment rate in Italy was 6.1%, the same as the previous month and 0.3 percentage point lower than a year earlier.