The OECD-area unemployment rate on a standardised basis was 6.4% in October 2000, the same level as September and 0.4 percentage points lower than a year earlier. The unemployment rate fell to 8.5% in Belgium, to 9.6% in Finland, to 9.3% in France, to 8.2% in Germany, to 4.2% in Ireland, to 4.1% in Portugal and to 13.6% in Spain. The unemployment rate remained stable at 3.9% in the United States, at 4.7% in Japan, at 6.3% in Australia, at 3.2%, at 2.1% in Luxembourg and at 5.4% in Sweden. The unemployment rate rose to 6.9% in Canada.

©OECD Observer December 2000