OECD: Slight improvement in employment in industrialised nations

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which comprises 34 of the world's most industrialised nations, said Tuesday that the average employment rate in member countries rose 0.1 percent in the second quarter and now stands at 65.1 percent. However, the OECD reported that employment levels are still somewhat lower than the pre-financial crisis levels in 2008, when the percentage of people in work was 1.4 percent higher at 66.5 percent. In addition, employment rates in the Eurocurrency area of Europe are still falling and are lower than the OECD average, as a whole. In the second quarter, the employment rate in the Euro zone fell by 0.1 percent and now stands at 63.4 percent, the report said. The rate increased 0.2 percent in Germany and it was stable in France but it fell in some other Euro zone countries, principally in Greece and several smaller countries. The US employment rate was stable at 67.3 percent in the second quarter and the rate rose in Japan, Canada and Britain.