In March this year, the unemployment rate of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries declined by 0.1 percentage point month on month to 6.4 percent, 1.7 percentage points below the January 2013 peak, according to new figures published by the OECD. The number of unemployed in the OECD region in March was 39.7 million people, 9.1 million less than in January 2013, but still 7.2 million more than in April 2008, immediately before the crisis.
In March, on month-on-month basis, the unemployment rate for the euro area declined by 0.2 percentage points to 10.2 percent. In the given month, the unemployment rate in Canada decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 7.1 percent, by 0.1 percentage point in Japan to 3.2 percent and by 0.1 percentage point in Mexico to 4.1 percent, all compared to February. In March, the unemployment rate in the United States increased by 0.1 percentage point to 5.0 percent on month-on-month basis.