JOBLESS RATE IN OECD AREA STICKS AT 6.9%.

• Position: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - Brief Article

The standardised unemployment rate for the 30-member OECD area remained at 6.9% in March 2004, 0.1 percentage point lower than a year earlier. In the Euro-zone, the standardised unemployment rate remained at 8.8% in March 2004, the same rate as a year earlier. For the United States, the standardised rate was 5.7% in March, 0.1% down on both the previous month and the year-earlier index. For Japan, the standardised unemployment rate was 4.7% in March 2004, 0.3 percentage point lower than the previous month and 0.7 percentage point lower than a year earlier.

Over the twelve months to March 2004...