OECD employment rates hold steady at record highs in Q4 2023

22 Apr '24

3 min read

OECD employment rates hold steady at record highs in Q4 2023

Pic: Achim Wagner - stock.adobe.com

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In Q4 2023, OECD's employment rate stabilised at 70.1 per cent and labour force participation at 73.8 per cent, both the highest since records began in 2005 and 2008.
Over two-thirds of OECD countries, including the UK and the US, saw employment rates over 70 per cent.
However, the youth unemployment rate rose to 10.9 per cent by February 2024.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) employment and labour force participation rates remained broadly stable at 70.1 per cent and 73.8 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023, the highest levels recorded since the start of the series in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Both indicators were at or near their record highs in 10 of the 38 OECD countries, including Italy and Japan.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, the employment rate exceeded 70 per cent in almost two-thirds of OECD countries, including Canada, Germany, Japan, the United-Kingdom and the United States. The employment rate increased in 11 OECD countries and fell in 10 countries, with the largest declines observed in Colombia, Israel, and Luxembourg. Turkiye remained the OECD country with the lowest employment rate, at 54.2 per cent, which was nevertheless its record high, OECD said in a press release.

In 2023, the number of women and men in employment in the OECD area increased across all age groups resulting in record high employment rates of 63.2 per cent and 76.9 per cent respectively. However, the gender gap narrowed as the OECD employment rate increased more rapidly among women (by 1.0 percentage point (pp)) than among men (by 0.3 pp). Turning to employment by age groups, the largest increase was recorded for older workers (aged 55 to 64), for whom the OECD employment rate reached 64 per cent, showing an increase of 1.1 pp since 2022 and 10.5 pp since 2007. In 2023, the OECD labour force participation rate among workers aged 15 to 64 also reached its highest level of 66.6 per cent for women and of 80.8 per cent for men.

In February 2024, the unemployment rate remained broadly stable at 4.9 per cent in the OECD area, remaining below or at 5.0 per cent since April 2022. The unemployment rate remained at record lows in the European Union (6.0 per cent) and the euro area (6.5 per cent). It was unchanged in 16 OECD countries with available data, while 6 countries recorded increases and another 10 countries registered drops. More recent data for March 2024 shows that the unemployment rate increased slightly to 5.4 per cent in Canada, while it decreased to 3.6 per cent in the United States.

Nevertheless, the OECD youth unemployment rate (workers aged 15-24) peaked at 10.9 per cent in February 2024, recording a pronounced increase of 0.5 pp, with a marked rise in Colombia, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

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