London: The unemployment rate in the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
countries remained at 8.6 percent for the second straight
month in September.
OECD region -- comprising 29 member countries, including
the US, Australia, Japan and Switzerland -- has been one of
the worst hit by the global financial meltdown and many
nations have witnessed soaring job losses.
"The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 8.6 percent
in September 2009, the same as the previous month and 2.3
percentage points higher than a year earlier," OECD said in a
statement on Monday.
Reflecting a strained labour market, the rate of
unemployment in the US shot up to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October.
In the Euro zone -- a grouping of 16 countries which
share the common currency euro -- the jobless rate stood at
9.7 percent in September.
Among other OECD nations, the unemployment rate in France
and Germany touched 10 per cent and 7.6 percent in
September, respectively.
Even as the economic conditions worldwide are slowly
improving, more number of jobs are evaporating as many
companies are trimming their workforce, to bring down costs.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 09, 2009, 19:43