The rate of unemployment across the 34 nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development fell to its lowest in six years in December, although the number of people without work remained well above the levels recorded before the onset of the financial crisis in late 2008.
The Paris-based research body said the jobless rate for its members--mostly countries with developed economies--fell to 7.1% from 7.2% in November. It was the lowest unemployment rate since January 2009, when the figure also stood at 7.1%.
However, that decline still left 43 million people without jobs, 8.6 million more than in July 2008, but 6.7 million less than the recent peak in April 2010.
The OECD said that unemployment rates fell in the U.S., Japan and the eurozone. However, the proportion of workers without jobs was much higher in the eurozone than elsewhere at 11.4%, while in Spain and Greece a quarter were unemployed.