THE unemployment rate in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries declined to 6.7 per cent in February from 6.8 per cent in the previous month, but remained 1.4 percentage points above the level observed in February, 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the labour market.

The unemployment rate was stable in the Euro area at 8.3 per cent in February, 2021 and 1 per cent above its pre-pandemic level. Latvia, with an increase of 0.2 percentage point (to 8.7 per cent) and Slovenia with a decrease of 0.2 percentage point (to 4.9 per cent) represented the largest changes in this area, while little movement was observed in other countries.

In the United States, the unemployment rate fell marginally in February to 6.2 per cent from 6.3 per cent in the previous month, along with a decline in the number of people on temporary lay-off. In Canada it decreased by 1.2 percentage points to 8.2 per cent. More recent data show that in March, the unemployment rate declined further in the US by0.2 percentage point and Canada by 0.7 percentage point.

The unemployment rate for Australia recorded one of the largest declines as it fell by 0.5 percentage point to 5.8 per cent. By contrast, it increased in Israel by 0.5 percentage point in Israel to 5.1 per cent and was stable in Japan at 2.9 per cent and Mexico at 4.5 per cent.

The OECD youth unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 year, decreased to 13.7 per cent in February from 14.0 per cent in January.