AS per the OECD report, unemployment remains stubbornly high in the OECD area with the latest economic forecasts suggesting job creation will remain anaemic in the near term.

The OECD’s latest Employment Outlook states that in mid-2011 the number of unemployed people in the OECD area had declined to just over 44 million, still more than 13 million higher than immediately before the crisis.

The risk of high unemployment becoming entrenched has increased with a steep rise in long-term joblessness. In the United States, the share of the unemployed who have been out of work for more than a year has tripled to a record high of over 30 per cent. In Spain it exceeds 40 per cent. Of the major OECD economies, only in Germany has long-term unemployment fallen.

Some OECD countries, including Australia, Japan, Korea and the Netherlands have managed to contain the increase in unemployment. Germany has actually reduced unemployment during the crisis.