In July 2010, the unemployment rate for the OECD area was steady at 8.5%, unchanged from the previous month and down slightly from the 8.6% level recorded in May. The general pattern of broad stability holds in most OECD countries. In August 2010 however, the unemployment rates increased slightly (by 0.1 percentage point) in both Canada (to 8.1%) and the United States (to 9.6%).

The OECD unemployment rate remains at a level close to post-war highs. The July unemployment rate was highest in Spain (20.3%), the Slovak Republic (15.0%), Ireland (13.6%), Portugal (10.8%) and Hungary (10.3%), with the lowest rates in Korea (3.7%) and Austria (3.8%).

The number of unemployed persons in OECD countries stood at 45.5 million in July 2010, an increase of 13.4 million compared with July 2008.

Selected Unemployment Rates, s.a.
June 2010 - July 2010 (1)

(1) United Kingdom: April 2010 - May 2010