OECD zone: employment rate remains at record levels in the fourth quarter of 2023

Data were recorded for employment and activity rates in 10 of the 38 OECD countries. Moreover, the gender gap has narrowed.

Employment and participation rates in the OECD area remained broadly stable at 70.1% and 73.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023, the highest levels since the series began in 2005 and 2008 respectively, the Organization for Economic Affairs said. Collaboration Development. For these two indicators, data were recorded in 10 of the 38 OECD countries, including Italy and Japan, the International Organization in Paris said in a press release.

According to the same source, employment rates exceeded 70% in the fourth quarter of 2023 in almost two-thirds of OECD countries, including Germany, Canada, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. Labor participation rose in eleven OECD countries and fell in ten others, with the largest declines observed in Colombia and Luxembourg in particular. Turkey remains the OECD country with the lowest employment rate, at 54.2%, which is nevertheless the highest level.

By 2023, the number of working women and men in the OECD has increased across all age groups, resulting in record employment rates of 63.2% and 76.9% respectively, we explain. However, the gender gap narrowed, with OECD employment rates rising faster for women (by 1 percentage point) than for men (by 0.3 percentage points).

In terms of employment, by age group, the largest increases were recorded among the oldest workers (55 to 64 years), for whom the OECD employment rate reached 64%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points since 2022 and 10.5 percentage points since 2007 The activity rate of OECD workers aged 15 to 64 also reached the highest level, at 66.6% for women and 80.8% for men.

In February 2024, the unemployment rate in the OECD area was broadly stable at 4.9% and has remained at or below 5% since April 2022. The unemployment rate remained at historically low levels in the European Union (6%) and in the Eurozone (6.5%). In 16 OECD countries for which data are available, it remained unchanged, while six countries recorded increases and ten others recorded decreases. More recent data for March 2024 shows that the unemployment rate in Canada increased slightly to 5.4%, while in the United States it fell to 3.6%.

Nevertheless, youth unemployment in the OECD (workers aged 15 to 24) peaked at 10.9% in February 2024, with a clear increase of 0.5 percentage points, with a clear increase in Colombia, the United States, Italy and Japan.

Sami Nemli with Agency / ECO Inspirations