Employment inches higher for OECD members

The employment rate among Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development members rose marginally in the third quarter, the group said Tuesday. The employment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 65.2 percent, the organization said. It was the second consecutive quarter the employment rate made gains. The employment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points in Japan, 0.2 percentage points in Britain and 0.1 percentage point in the United States, reaching 71.8 percent, 70.8 percent and 67.4 percent, respectively. The largest gains in the quarter were posted by Portugal with a gain of 0.7 percentage points to 61.3 percent, and Slovenia with a 0.7 percentage point gain to 63.7 percent. Solid gains were also posted by Ireland, Israel and New Zealand, OECD said. Declines were paced by Estonia, where the rate dropped to 67.9 percent, down by 1.1 percentage points. Turkey posted a 0.5 percentage point drop in employment to 49.2 percent. The Netherlands and Denmark each posted 0.4 percentage point declines, respectively to 74 percent and 72.4 percent. Workers between 55 and 64 years of age, experienced solid gains, with employment up 0.3 percentage points to 56.5 percent in the third quarter, which contributes to a 0.9 percentage point gain over the last 12 months.