Unemployment rate rises to 7.3%

by S. C.

The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 7.3% in February 2009, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.7 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
In the Euro area, the unemployment rate was 8.5% in February 2009, 0.2 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For the United States, the unemployment rate for March 2009 was 8.5%, 0.4 percentage point higher than the previous month and 3.5 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 4.4% in February 2009, 0.3 percentage point higher than the previous month and 0.5 percentage point higher than in February 2008.
In February 2009, the unemployment rate for France was 8.6%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.0 percentage point higher than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.4% in February 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but 0.2 percentage point lower than in February 2008. For Canada, the unemployment rate was 8.0% in March 2009, 0.3 percentage point higher the previous month and 1.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier. In December 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 6.4%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.4 percentage points higher than in December 2007. In December 2008, the rate in Italy was 6.9%, the same as the previous month and 0.5 percentage point higher than in December 2007.