Unemployment in the states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in October decreased for the sixth consecutive month – to 5.7% compared to 5.8% in September.

Meanwhile, the indicator remains 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) above the level of February 2020, that is, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively affected the labor market, according to the press release of the organization.

 The number of unemployed people in OECD countries fell by 0.2 million to 38.3 million in October. However, the figure is 2.8 million above the pre-pandemic level. Unemployment among women remained at 6%, while among men it fell to 5.5% from 5.6% in September. Meanwhile, the rate among young people (ages 15 to 24) climbed to 12.1% from 12%. In the eurozone unemployment in October fell to 7.3% from 7.4% a month earlier, in the European Union – remained at 6.7%. At the same time, in Austria and Italy, the rate rose – respectively to 5.8% from 5.2% and to 9.4% from 9.2%. In Canada, unemployment fell to 6.7% from 6.9% and in the U.S. to 4.6% from 4.8%.

Preliminary data for November point to a further drop to 6% in Canada and 4.2% in the States, the report said. Meanwhile, countries such as South Korea (up to 3.2% from 3%), Australia (up to 5.2% from 4.6%) and Colombia (up to 13% from 12.7%) saw unemployment rise in October.