Employment rates and unemployment in the third quarter in the OECD, the EU and BP6

The OECD employment and labor force participation rates stabilized at 70.1% and 73.8% in the third quarter of 2023, the highest levels recorded since the series began in 2005 and 2008, respectively. Both indicators were close to their record levels in 9 of the 38 OECD countries, including France, Italy and Japan. Record levels of OECD employment and participation for women and men were achieved.
The employment rate exceeded 70% in almost two-thirds of OECD countries. However, employment rates fell in 20 OECD countries in the third quarter of 2023, compared with declines in 17 OECD countries in the previous quarter. The biggest declines were seen in Costa Rica, Iceland and Finland. Turkey remained the OECD country with the lowest employment rate, at 53.9%.
In November 2023, the OECD unemployment rate remained at a record low (4.8%) for the ninth consecutive month and was broadly stable at record lows in the European Union (5.9%) and the euro area ( 6.4%). The unemployment rate remained unchanged in November in 20 OECD countries with available data, while 7 countries recorded a decrease and another 6 countries recorded an increase in the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate in December 2023 remained stable in both Canada and the United States at 5.8% and 3.7%, respectively.

The OECD unemployment rate for men has remained below 5.0% since March 2022. It has been stable for women at 5.0% for five consecutive months. The unemployment rate for OECD youth (workers aged 15-24) was broadly stable over the past two months, although 6.7 percentage points higher than the unemployment rate for workers aged 25 and over.
Whereas, if we look in the Western Balkans for the employment rate in the third quarter of 2023 (data for Kosovo are missing), it can be seen that Albania maintains the highest level and Bosnia-Herzegovina the lowest (see figure). The labor market in the region continued to strengthen in 2023, against all odds. The average employment rate reached an all-time high of 52.9 percent in November 2023.
The unemployment rate fell compared to the previous quarter in some economies and in most of them it was the same or lower than in the same period a year ago. Overall, the unemployment rate in the region remained high compared to the EU, ranging from 9.6% in Serbia to 13.5% in Montenegro.