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Labour statistics

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  • Labour force statistics

    The International Labour Organisation (ILO) considers people of working age to be in one (and one only) of three situations in the labour market: employed, unemployed, or inactive. The employed and unemployed together are known as the labour force.

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  • Unemployment rate

    A closely watched indicator is the unemployment rate (the number of unemployed as a percentage of the labour force). The unemployment rate tracks what economists call “labour slack” – the match between the jobs on offer in an economy and the number of people seeking to work – and is a key indicator of a society’s economic and social well-being.

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  • Labour market situation

    Labour force data are typically analysed by gender, age group (youth, prime age, older). They are also frequently broken down in many other ways for specific policy purposes: by economic sector, by occupation, by level of education, full- and part-time workers, the short- and long-term unemployed.

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What's new

OECD unemployment rate unchanged at 4.8% in January 2024

14 Mar 2024 - The OECD unemployment rate was broadly stable at 4.8% in January 2024, having remained below 5.0% since July 2022. The rate was unchanged in 23 OECD countries in January, rose in 6 countries, and declined in only 3 countries. The number of unemployed persons in the OECD decreased to 33.5 million in January, mainly driven by a decrease in the number of unemployed younger workers (aged 15-24).

 


 

Behind the numbers 

 

Further statistics on the labour market

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