Jobless rate stuck at 7.5% in advanced nations

The unemployment rate in advanced countries remained stuck at 7.5 percent in March, the OECD said Wednesday, leaving the number of jobless still one-third higher than at the start of the global economic crisis. The OECD, a policy forum for advanced democracies, said 11.3 million more people were looking for work in its 34 member countries than in July 2008, before the global financial crisis began. The number of jobless has however dropped by 4 million from the peak in April 2010 as the global economy has begun to recover. While the 18-nation eurozone is returning to tepid growth, there has been scant improvement on the jobs front, with the unemployment rate holding steady for the fourth month running, at 11.8 percent, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. The jobless rate also held steady in March in the United states at 6.7 percent and in Japan at 3.6 percent. It climbed by 0.3 points to 5.8 percent in Australia and 0.4 points to 3.5 percent in South Korea.