The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 5.5% in March 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the standardised unemployment rate was 7.1% in March 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.4 percentage point lower than a year earlier. The United States’ standardised unemployment rate for April 2008 was 5.0%, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.5 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 3.8% in March 2008, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.2 percentage point lower than in March 2007.

In March 2008, the standardised unemployment rate in France was 7.8%, the same as the previous month and 0.8 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.3% in March 2008, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 1.3 percentage point lower than in March 2007. For Canada, the standardised unemployment rate was 6.1% in April 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In January 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.1%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but 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.