The standardised unemployment rate for the OECD area was 5.8% in July 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.2 percentage point higher than a year earlier.

In the Euro area, the standardised unemployment rate was 7.3% in July 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For the United States the standardised unemployment rate for August 2008 was 6.1%, 0.4 percentage point higher than the previous month and 1.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier. For Japan, the rate was 4.0% in July 2008, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month but 0.4 percentage point higher than in July 2007.

In July 2008, the standardised unemployment rate in France was 7.3%, 0.2 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.9 percentage point lower than a year earlier. For Germany, the rate was 7.3% in July 2008, 0.1 percentage point lower than the previous month and 1.1 percentage point lower than in July 2007. For Canada, the standardised unemployment rate was 6.1% in August 2008, the same as the previous month and 0.1 percentage point higher than a year earlier. In May 2008, the rate in the United Kingdom was 5.3%, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month but the same as in May 2007.