The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 6.9% in January 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the unemployment rate was 8.2% in January 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.9 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For the United States, the unemployment rate for February 2009 was 8.1%, 0.5 percentage point higher than the previous month and 3.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 4.1% in January 2009, 0.2 percentage point lower than the previous month but 0.3 percentage point higher than in January 2008.

In January 2009, the unemployment rate for France was 8.3%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.7 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.3% in January 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.4 percentage point lower than in January 2008. For Canada, the unemployment rate was 7.2% in January 2009, 0.6 percentage point higher the previous month and 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier. In November 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 6.2%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.2 percentage point higher than in November 2007.