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.
Read moreA 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.
Read moreLabour 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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OECD unemployment rate remains at record low of 4.9% in January 2023 |
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14 Mar 2023 – The OECD unemployment rate remained at 4.9% in January 2023, the seventh consecutive month at this record low since the start of the series in 2001. The unemployment rate was stable in 12 of 38 OECD countries, but close to its record low in only 7 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, and the United States. The number of unemployed persons declined to 33.2 million, remaining close to the record low reached in July 2022.
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Behind the numbers
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Further statistics on the labour market |
Related labour topics |