The unemployment rate across the OECD reached 4.9% in July 2026, marking a decline from the 5.0% recorded in June and nearing the historic low of 4.8% seen in June 2023. This shift brought the total number of unemployed individuals within the organization to 34.7 million, representing the lowest figure observed in a year.
Regional data shows that unemployment remained steady at 6.1% in the European Union and 6.4% in the euro area. Among individual nations, Japan, Mexico, and Korea reported the lowest figures, each maintaining rates below 3.0%. Conversely, Finland and Spain continued to face double-digit unemployment, with Finland’s rate sitting nearly 5.0 percentage points above its historic low from nearly two decades ago.
For the majority of the 33 OECD countries with available data, conditions remained stable between June and July 2026. This trend of stability was also reflected in the European Union, where 14 member countries reported little change in their respective unemployment figures.
Despite the overall improvement, youth unemployment (ages 15-24) remains a significant concern. While the rate for this demographic dipped by 0.2 percentage points to 11.0% in July, it remains 6.8 percentage points higher than the rate for workers aged 25 and over, which has held steady at approximately 4.2% since February 2022. Currently, 30 OECD countries are reporting double-digit youth unemployment, with rates surpassing 20% in Chile and seven European Union member states.
Gender-based unemployment rates also showed consistency in July, with figures for women and men holding at 5.1% and 4.8%, respectively. This leaves the OECD gender gap unchanged at 0.3 percentage points. Similarly, the gender gap remained stable at 0.4 percentage points in both the European Union and the euro area, while the G7 maintained a stable, negative gap of -0.3 percentage points. The report also notes that unemployment rates remained broadly stable in July in most OECD countries (21 of the 33 OECD countries with available data), compared with June 2026.