The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 6.2% in October 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.6 percentage point higher than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the unemployment rate was 7.7% in October 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For the United States the unemployment rate for November 2008 was 6.7%, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month and 2.0 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 3.7% in October 2008, 0.3 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.3 percentage point lower than in October 2007.

In October 2008, the unemployment rate for France was 8.2%, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.2 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.1% in October 2008, the same as the previous month and 1.0 percentage point lower than in October 2007. For Canada, the unemployment rate was 6.3% in November 2008, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point higher than a year earlier. In August 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.7%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.4 percentage point higher than in August 2007.