The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 6.0% in August 2008, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point higher than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the unemployment rate was 7.5% in August 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.1 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For the United States the unemployment rate for September 2008 was 6.1%, the same as the previous month and 1.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 4.1% in August 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point higher than in August 2007.

In August 2008, the unemployment rate for France was 8.0%, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.2 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.2% in August 2008, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 1.1 percentage points lower than in August 2007. For Canada, the unemployment rate was 6.1% in August 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.1 percentage point higher than a year earlier. In June 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.4%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.1 percentage point higher than in June 2007. In Italy, the rate was 6.8% in June 2008, the same as the previous month but 0.8 percentage point higher than the previous year.