The unemployment rate for the OECD area fell slightly to 8.6% in May 2010 from 8.7% in April. The general pattern of broad stability continues across most OECD countries. But the June 2010 rates for Canada, at 7.9%, and the United States, at 9.5%, both fell by 0.2 percentage point from May.

The OECD unemployment rate remains, however, at a level close to post-war highs. The countries with the highest rates across the OECD area in May were Spain (rising to 19.9%), the Slovak Republic (stable at 14.8%), Ireland (rising to 13.3%), Portugal (rising to 10.9%), Hungary (falling to 10.4%), with the overall figure for the Euro area stable at 10.0%. The lowest rates were recorded in Korea (falling to 3.2%), Austria (falling to 4.0%) and the Netherlands (stable at 4.3%).

The number of unemployed persons in OECD countries, roughly stable since August 2009, stood at 45.9 million in May 2010. This was 1.4 million more than in May 2009 and 14.7 million more than in May 2008.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.
April 2010 – May 2010 (1)