OECD Jobless Remains at 8.8% in December 2009

PARIS, Feb. 9 -- The unemployment rate for the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) area remained at 8.8 percent in December 2009, the same with last month, but 1.8 percentage points higher from a year earlier, OECD said on Monday.

In the euro area, the jobless rate rose to 10.0 percent in the last month of 2009, 1.8 percentage points higher than last year. In Japan, the rate declined to 5.1 percent, 0.1 percentage point less from November 2009, but 0.8 percentage higher than last year.

The December unemployment rate in France and Germany remained at 10 percent and 7.5 percent respectively, but both registered slight increases from last year. For Italy, the rate rose to 8.5 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher than last month and 1.5 percentage points higher than last year.

In European Union, the unemployment rate in December reached the year high at 9.6 percent.

The latest figures from the United States and Canada showed a fall in unemployment rates in January. For United States, the figure was 9.7 percent, less than 10 percent record in December, but still 2.0 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

In Canada, the rate in January posted at 8.3 percent, slightly less than December 2009, but 1.0 percentage point higher than last year.