OECD region unemployment rate touches 7.8% in Apr

LONDON: More and more people continued to become unemployed in the world's major economies, with the jobless rate in the OECD region climbing to 7.8 per cent in April.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) - a grouping of developed nations - has been witnessing rising unemployment in the wake of the raging financial turmoil.

"The unemployment rate for the OECD area was 7.8 per cent in April 2009, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month and 2.2 percentage points higher than a year earlier," OECD said in a statement.

Globally, companies are cutting down on their workforce to save on costs, which in turn has squeezed the labour markets. Reflecting the challenging economic conditions, the unemployment rate in the US, which is also a OECD member, has touched a 26-year high of 9.4 per cent in May.

"In April 2009, the unemployment rate for France was 8.9 per cent... For Germany, the rate was 7.7 per cent in April 2009," the statement noted.

In the euro area - the 16 nations which share the common currency euro - the jobless rate stood at 9.2 per cent in April, the highest in a decade.

The OECD comprises 29 countries including Canada, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Switzerland.