Portugal was the OECD country where the unemployment rate rose the most between July and December 2022, plus eight tenths, an evolution that clearly contradicts the general trend of the organization’s members, it was announced on Tuesday.
In a statement published on Tuesday with comparative data on the evolution of unemployment in the 38 member states, the OECD – Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development – says that the unemployment rate as a whole has remained stable for the sixth consecutive month, at 4.9%. December 2022, the lowest level since the series began in 2001.
In 2022, the number of unemployed in the OECD fell to 33.9 million, the lowest annual level since the beginning of the series.
The unemployment rate in Portugal increased from 5.9% in July to 6.7% in Decemberplus 0.8 points, and the minimum level of unemployment in the OECD historical series, 5.1%, was recorded in January 2001.
Spain, with the organization’s highest unemployment rate, 13.1% in December, and Sweden were other countries where the unemployment rate increased the most between July and the last month of the year, at five-tenths.
In Spain and Sweden, the unemployment rate rose from 12.6% and 7% in July to 13.1% and 7.5% in December.
Another country that recorded a sharp increase was Austria, with a growth of four tenths of a percentage point to 5%.
On the other hand, unemployment in Greece fell by seven-tenths to 11.6% between July and December. Yet, at the end of 2022, Greece had the second highest percentage, after Spain.
In nine OECD countries, December unemployment rates were the lowest or nearing their lowest since the organization began its historic series in 2001, including Germany (2.9%), Canada (5%), United States (3.5%) and France (7.1%).
Unemployment also remained at historic lows in the European Union and the eurozone, at 6.1% and 6.6% respectively.
In absolute numbers, Spain was the third country in the organization with the highest unemployment rate at the end of 2022, with 3.08 million people, behind only the United States (5.722 million) and Turkey (3.633 million), which have much larger populations.
Source: DN
