New OECD report shows Canada still among highest unemployment rates in the world

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released their latest unemployment rates across OECD countries on Wednesday, with Canada resting well above the average OECD unemployment of 6.6 percent.

According to the latest available data, Canada's unemployment rate sits at 8.2 percent, behind just Sweden, Chile, Italy, Turkey, Columbia, Spain, Greece, and Costa Rica.

The 8.2 figure represents a rise of over two percent since February 2020, a time widely regarded to be the start of the pandemic for many developed countries across the world.

The OECD notes, however, notes that Canada's "Temporary  layoffs led to  inflated unemployment  rates  in  Canada  during the pandemic’s peak in Q2 2020, and a larger decline in the employment  rate than the OECD average. However,  the employment rate is likely to recover slightly more quickly, and the unemployment rate fall more rapidly, than  the OECD average, and both are projected  to  return to pre-pandemic levels by early  2023.In May 2021, the unemployment rate stood at 8.2%, up from 5.7% in February 2020."

Monthly hours worked by Canadian workers fell in April 2020 to less than 73 percent of its February peak. Since then, hours worked have almost completely recovered, stabilizing by December at 95 percent of peaklevels. Canada is the only country (of 10 examined) to recover hours worked fully by March 2021, the OECD reports.