THE Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on Wednesday said the share of their working-age population without jobs remained stable at 6.9 per cent in December 2020, remaining 1.7 percentage points above the level observed in February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the labour market.

In December, the unemployment rate was stable in the Euro Area at 8.3 per cent, 1.1 percentage points above its February 2020 level. It fell 0.2 percentage point or more in Belgium, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia and increased 0.2 percentage point or more in Austria, Finland, Italy and Luxembourg.

In the United States, where the number of people on temporary lay-off has been relatively steady since October, the unemployment rate was stable at 6.7 per cent that was 3.2 percentage points higher than in February 2020. In Canada, it increased by 0.2 percentage point to 8.8 per cent, said the Paris-based organisation.

Sharing more recent data for January 2021, the OECD said unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage point in the United States to 6.3 per cent while it continued to rise by 0.6 percentage point, to 9.4 per cent, in Canada.

In December, the unemployment rate was unchanged in Japan at 2.9 per cent but was 0.5 percentage point above its pre-pandemic level.

It increased by 0.5 percentage point in Korea to 4.6 per cent, while it continued to decline in Australia to 6.6 per cent in December, from 6.8 per cent in November.

"In spite of stable aggregate unemployment rates in the OECD and the Euro area, in December, the OECD youth unemployment rate (people aged 15 to 24) increased slightly to 14.4 per cent (from 14.2 per cent in November)," noted the report.

In the Euro area, the youth unemployment rate increased to 18.5 per cent from 18.1 per cent in November, marking the second consecutive monthly increase.