Monthly unemployment rate (OECD harmonised)

Unemployed people aged 15 and over as a share of the labour force, each month, seasonally adjusted, using OECD harmonised definitions based on ILO guidelines. Covers OECD members and selected other economies.

Unit: % of the labour force aged 15 and over, seasonally adjusted Frequency: Monthly Coverage: 39 countries and 1 group January 2000 to October 2026 Source: OECD (original data: OECD, Infra-annual Labour Statistics)

36 countries have a value for September 2026, the latest period with data for most countries. Some countries have newer figures; see the ranking below for each country's latest year.

Trend over time

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United States × Germany ×

% of the labour force aged 15 and over, seasonally adjusted. Source: OECD Data Explorer. Gaps mean no published value; points are not joined across missing years.

Monthly unemployment rate (OECD harmonised) (% of the labour force aged 15 and over, seasonally adjusted), January 2017 to September 2026 – most recent 40 periods; the CSV has all of them
Period United StatesGermany
September 2026 4.2% 4.1%
August 2026 4.1% 4.1%
July 2026 4.1% 4.0%
June 2026 4.2% 4.0%
May 2026 4.3% 3.9%
April 2026 4.3% 3.9%
March 2026 4.3% 3.9%
February 2026 4.4% 3.9%
January 2026 4.3% 3.9%
December 2025 4.4% 3.9%
November 2025 4.5% 3.9%
October 2025 – 3.8%
September 2025 4.4% 3.8%
August 2025 4.3% 3.8%
July 2025 4.3% 3.8%
June 2025 4.1% 3.7%
May 2025 4.3% 3.7%
April 2025 4.2% 3.7%
March 2025 4.2% 3.6%
February 2025 4.2% 3.6%
January 2025 4.0% 3.5%
December 2024 4.1% 3.5%
November 2024 4.2% 3.4%
October 2024 4.1% 3.4%
September 2024 4.1% 3.4%
August 2024 4.2% 3.4%
July 2024 4.2% 3.4%
June 2024 4.1% 3.4%
May 2024 3.9% 3.4%
April 2024 3.9% 3.4%
March 2024 3.9% 3.3%
February 2024 3.9% 3.3%
January 2024 3.7% 3.2%
December 2023 3.8% 3.2%
November 2023 3.7% 3.2%
October 2023 3.9% 3.1%
September 2023 3.7% 3.1%
August 2023 3.7% 3.1%
July 2023 3.5% 3.0%
June 2023 3.6% 3.0%

A dash means no value was published for that period.

In short

  • Among the 36 countries with a value for September 2026, the highest is Finland (11.0%) and the lowest Japan (2.4%).
  • Half of the countries are above 5.8% and half below.
  • From August 2026 to September 2026 the value rose in 15 countries and fell in 10.

About this measure

Definition
Unemployed people aged 15 and over as a share of the labour force, each month, seasonally adjusted, using OECD harmonised definitions based on ILO guidelines. Covers OECD members and selected other economies.
Population covered
Labour force aged 15 and over
Unit
% of the labour force aged 15 and over, seasonally adjusted
Frequency
Monthly
Changes are shown as
Percentage points (the difference between two rates)

Source and dates

Original producer
OECD, Infra-annual Labour Statistics
Distributed by
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Dataset or series code
OECD.SDD.TPS,DSD_LFS@DF_IALFS_UNE_M,1.0 · dataset details · view at source
Selection
.UNE_LF_M...Y._T.Y_GE15..M
Observation period
January 2000 to October 2026
Provider update
Not stated by the provider
Retrieved
9 November 2026
Published here
9 November 2026
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Attribution
Source: OECD Data Explorer, original data: OECD, Infra-annual Labour Statistics

All countries in September 2026 Every value is for September 2026, so the countries are compared at the same point in time.

  1. 1 Finland 11.0%
  2. 2 Spain 10.3%
  3. 3 Sweden 8.6%
  4. 4 France 8.5%
  5. 5 Colombia 8.5%
  6. 6 Türkiye 8.4%
  7. 7 Estonia 8.0%
  8. 8 Greece 7.6%
  9. 9 Latvia 7.3%
  10. 10 Luxembourg 7.3%
  11. 11 Denmark 6.8%
  12. 12 Canada 6.5%
  13. 13 Austria 6.3%
  14. 14 Italy 6.3%
  15. 15 Romania 6.3%
  16. 16 Lithuania 6.2%
  17. 17 Belgium 6.0%
  18. 18 Iceland 5.9%
  19. 19 Slovakia 5.7%
  20. 20 Portugal 5.6%
  21. 21 Ireland 5.0%
  22. 22 Norway 5.0%
  23. 23 Australia 4.7%
  24. 24 Hungary 4.6%
  25. 25 Croatia 4.3%
  26. 26 United States 4.2%
  27. 27 Germany 4.1%
  28. 28 Netherlands 4.0%
  29. 29 Slovenia 3.6%
  30. 30 Bulgaria 3.4%
  31. 31 Poland 3.4%
  32. 32 Israel 3.0%
  33. 33 Czechia 2.8%
  34. 34 Mexico 2.6%
  35. 35 South Korea 2.6%
  36. 36 Japan 2.4%
  37. OECD members 5.0%e (Estimated value)
Below the line: groups and aggregates, not ranked. View as map Ranking page with top and bottom ten

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Map

Grey: no value for September 2026. Colour groups split countries into roughly equal numbers. Boundaries: Natural Earth.