The unemployment rate for the OECD area was stable in July 2015, at 6.8%. Since the peak in January 2013, the cumulative decrease in the OECD unemployment rate is 1.3 percentage points.
In the euro area, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 10.9% in July, with the largest declines observed in Italy (a decrease of 0.5 percentage points, to 12.0%), Portugal (a decrease of 0.2 percentage points, to 12.1%, the sixth consecutive monthly decrease), and Spain (a decrease of 0.2 percentage points to 22.2%, after having decreased each month for nearly two years).
In July, the unemployment rate was stable in Canada (at 6.8%), Mexico (at 4.4%), and the United States (at 5.3%), while it decreased by 0.2 percentage points in Korea (to 3.7%) and by 0.1 percentage points in Japan (to 3.3%).
More recent data shows that in August 2015, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points in the United States (to 5.1%), while it increased in Canada (by 0.2 percentage points, to 7.0%).
Overall, 41.6 million people were unemployed in the OECD area in July, 7.3 million fewer than in January 2013, but still 7.1 million more than in July 2008, immediately before the crisis. There were 17.5 million unemployed in the euro area, 8.3 million in the United States, 3 million in Turkey (in May, the most recent available month), 2.3 million in Mexico, and 2.2 million in Japan.
