In January 2011 the OECD area unemployment rate was 8.4%, down 0.1 percentage point from December. This was the second consecutive decrease, following a period of stability of around 8.5% through most of 2010 and a peak of 8.6% in November 2010. While diverging trends persist at the national level, several OECD countries registered slight falls in January. New February 2011 data show the unemployment rate for the United States down by 0.1 percentage point to 8.9% (the third consecutive decline), while the rate for Canada was stable at 7.8%.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.

December 2010 - January 2011 (1)

(1) United Kingdom: October 2010 - November 2010

The unemployment rate fell in both the European Union and the euro area, largely reflecting declines in France and Germany (where the unemployment rates fell by 0.1 percentage point to 9.6% and 6.5% respectively). Small falls were also recorded in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Luxembourg and Mexico. Austria, Korea, Slovenia and Sweden all experienced slight increases in their unemployment rates while the rates for Italy and Japan were stable at 8.6% and 4.9% respectively.

There were 45.4 million unemployed persons in OECD countries in January 2011, down 1.8 million from January 2010 but 14.5 million higher than in January 2008.