Statistical Annex Sources and de®nitions An important source for the statistics in these tables is Part III of OECD, Labour Force Statistics, 1977-1997. The data on employment, unemployment and the labour force are not always the same as the series used for policy analysis and forecasting by the OECD Economics Department, reproduced in Tables 1.2 and 1.3. Conventional signs .. Data not available Break in series ± Nil or less than half of the last digit used Note on statistical treatment of Germany In this publication, data up to end-1990 are for western Germany only; unless otherwise indi- cated, they are for the whole of Germany from 1991 onwards. 190 EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK Table A. Standardized unemployment rates in 21 OECD countries As a percentage of total labour force 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Australia 7.0 9.5 10.8 11.0 9.8 8.6 8.6 8.7 Austria . 4.0 3.8 3.9 4.3 4.4 Belgium 6.7 6.6 7.3 8.9 10.0 9.9 9.7 9.2 Canada 8.1 10.4 11.3 11.2 10.4 9.5 9.7 9.2 Denmark 7.7 8.5 9.2 10.1 8.2 7.2 6.9 6.1 Finland 3.2 7.2 12.4 17.0 17.4 16.2 15.3 14.0 France 9.0 9.5 10.4 11.7 12.3 11.7 12.4 12.4 Germanya 4.8 5.6 6.6 7.9 8.4 8.2 8.9 9.7 Ireland 13.4 14.8 15.4 15.6 14.3 12.3 11.6 10.2 Italy 9.1 8.8 9.0 10.3 11.4 11.9 12.0 . Japan 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.5 2.9 3.1 3.4 3.4 Luxembourg 1.7 1.7 2.1 2.7 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.7 Netherlands 6.2 5.8 5.6 6.6 7.1 6.9 6.3 5.2 New Zealand 7.8 10.3 10.3 9.5 8.1 6.3 6.1 6.7 Norway 5.3 5.6 6.0 6.1 5.5 5.0 4.9 4.1 Portugal 4.6 4.0 4.2 5.7 7.0 7.3 7.3 6.8 Spain 16.2 16.4 18.5 22.8 24.1 22.9 22.1 20.8 Sweden 1.8 3.3 5.9 9.5 9.8 9.2 10.0 10.2 Switzerland . 2.0 3.1 4.0 3.8 3.5 3.9 . United Kingdom 7.1 8.8 10.1 10.5 9.6 8.8 8.2 7.1 United States 5.6 6.8 7.5 6.9 6.1 5.6 5.4 4.9 European Unionb . 8.2 9.2 10.7 11.1 10.8 10.9 10.6 OECD Europeb . 8.0 9.1 10.5 10.9 10.5 10.6 10.4 Total OECDb . 6.8 7.5 8.0 7.9 7.5 7.6 7.3 a) Up to and including 1990, western Germany; subsequent data concern the whole of Germany. b) Unemployment rates for the years 1991, 1992 and 1997 are estimates. Note: In so far as possible, the data have been adjusted to ensure comparability over time and to conform to the guidelines of the International Labour Of®ce. All series are benchmarked to labour-force-survey-based estimates. In countries with annual surveys, monthly estimates are obtained by interpolation/extrapolation and by incorporating trends in administrative data, where available. The annual ®gures are then calculated by averaging the monthly estimates (for both unemployed and the labour force). For countries with monthly or quarterly surveys, the annual estimates are obtained by averaging the monthly or quarterly estimates, respectively. For several countries, the adjustment procedure used is similar to that of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. For EU countries, the procedures are similar to those used in deriving the Comparable Unemployment Rates (CURs) of the Statistical Of®ce of the European Communities. Minor differences may appear mainly because of various methods of calculating and applying adjustment factors, and because EU estimates are based on the civilian labour force. Source: OECD (1998), Quarterly Labour Force Statistics, No. 1. STATISTICAL ANNEX 191 Table B. Employment/population ratios, activity rates and unemployment rates by sex for persons aged 15-64 yearsa Percentages Both sexes Employment/population ratio Labour force participation rate Unemployment rate 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 Australia 67.9 64.1 65.7 67.5 67.3 66.3 73.0 71.9 72.4 73.5 73.7 72.5 7.0 10.9 9.3 8.2 8.6 8.5 Austria . 68.4 67.3 67.2 . 71.5 71.1 70.9 . 4.4 5.3 5.2 Belgium 54.4 56.0 55.7 56.3 56.3 57.0 58.7 60.9 61.7 62.1 62.2 62.6 7.3 8.1 9.7 9.4 9.5 9.0 Canada 70.5 66.7 67.1 67.5 67.5 67.9 76.8 75.2 75.0 74.7 74.8 74.9 8.2 11.3 10.5 9.6 9.8 9.3 Czech Republic . 71.3 71.5 69.6 69.4 68.7 . 74.2 74.3 72.5 72.2 72.1 . 3.9 3.8 4.1 3.8 4.7 Denmark 75.4 72.4 72.4 73.9 74.0 75.4 82.4 81.2 78.8 79.5 79.5 79.8 8.5 10.9 8.1 7.0 6.9 5.4 Finland 73.7 60.5 59.7 61.0 61.8 63.6 76.3 73.6 73.1 73.6 73.7 74.3 3.4 17.7 18.3 17.1 16.2 14.5 France 59.9 59.0 58.3 59.0 59.2 58.8 66.0 66.5 66.6 66.8 67.4 67.1 9.2 11.2 12.5 11.7 12.2 12.4 Germany 64.1 65.2 64.8 64.9 64.5 63.5 68.4 70.8 70.8 70.6 70.8 70.4 6.3 7.9 8.4 8.2 8.8 9.8 Greece 54.8 53.5 54.1 54.5 54.9 54.8 59.1 59.2 59.5 60.1 61.0 60.8 7.2 9.6 9.1 9.3 9.9 9.8 Hungaryb . 49.3 48.2 52.9 53.0 52.7 . 56.0 54.0 58.9 58.8 57.8 . 11.9 10.7 10.2 9.8 8.7 Icelandc, d 79.9 78.2 78.5 80.5 80.4 80.0 82.1 82.6 83.1 84.7 83.5 83.2 2.7 5.3 5.4 4.9 3.8 3.8 Ireland 52.3 51.0 52.3 53.8 54.8 56.1 60.2 60.8 61.4 61.5 62.3 62.7 13.2 16.0 14.9 12.4 12.0 10.5 Italy 53.9 51.8 50.9 50.5 50.6 50.5 59.8 57.9 57.5 57.3 57.7 57.7 9.9 10.5 11.5 11.9 12.3 12.5 Japan 68.6 69.5 69.3 69.2 69.5 70.0 70.1 71.3 71.4 71.5 72.0 72.6 2.2 2.6 3.0 3.3 3.5 3.5 Korea 61.2 62.3 63.2 63.7 63.8 63.5 62.8 64.1 64.8 65.1 65.1 65.3 2.5 2.9 2.5 2.1 2.1 2.7 Luxembourg 59.1 60.9 60.2 58.5 59.1 . 60.1 62.4 62.3 60.3 61.1 . 1.6 2.3 3.5 2.9 3.3 . Mexicod 58.0 59.3 58.7 58.2 59.1 60.8 59.9 61.4 61.4 61.8 61.9 63.1 3.1 3.3 4.4 5.8 4.5 3.6 Netherlands 61.1 63.5 63.8 64.2 65.4 67.5 66.2 67.8 68.7 69.2 69.9 71.5 7.7 6.3 7.2 7.2 6.5 5.6 New Zealand 67.3 66.0 67.8 70.0 71.1 65.4 73.0 73.0 73.9 74.7 75.7 70.5 7.8 9.6 8.2 6.4 6.2 7.2 Norwayc 73.1 71.3 72.2 67.5 75.3 77.3 77.1 75.9 76.4 70.9 79.2 80.6 5.3 6.1 5.4 4.8 4.9 4.1 Poland . 58.9 58.3 58.1 58.4 58.8 . 68.8 68.4 67.4 66.9 66.4 . 14.4 14.8 13.7 12.7 11.5 Portugal 65.5 64.3 62.9 62.5 62.3 63.4 68.8 68.1 67.6 67.4 67.5 68.2 4.8 5.5 7.0 7.4 7.7 6.9 Spainc 50.2 46.2 46.5 46.7 47.6 49.0 60.0 59.9 61.3 60.8 61.3 61.9 16.4 22.9 24.1 23.1 22.4 20.9 Sweden 83.1 72.6 71.5 72.2 71.6 70.7 84.5 79.1 77.6 78.2 77.8 76.8 1.7 8.2 8.0 7.7 8.1 8.0 Switzerlandd 78.1 75.6 74.2 75.3 73.4 78.1 79.6 78.6 77.4 78.1 76.4 81.5 1.9 3.9 4.2 3.5 3.9 4.2 Turkey 54.5 52.2 52.0 52.7 52.5 50.2 59.4 56.7 56.7 56.8 56.0 53.7 8.2 7.9 8.3 7.1 6.3 6.6 United Kingdomc 72.4 68.3 68.8 69.3 69.8 70.8 77.8 76.3 76.2 75.9 76.1 76.2 6.8 10.4 9.7 8.7 8.2 7.1 United Statesc 72.2 71.2 72.0 72.5 72.9 73.5 76.5 76.6 76.7 76.9 77.1 77.4 5.7 7.0 6.2 5.6 5.5 5.0 European Unione 61.5 59.9 59.6 60.1 60.2 60.4 67.1 67.2 67.2 67.3 67.6 67.7 8.4 10.8 11.4 10.7 10.9 10.8 OECD Europee 61.0 59.3 58.9 59.4 59.6 59.5 66.5 66.3 66.2 66.2 66.4 66.1 8.2 10.5 11.0 10.3 10.2 10.0 Total OECDe 65.2 63.9 63.9 64.3 64.5 64.8 69.3 69.3 69.3 69.4 69.6 69.7 6.0 7.8 7.8 7.5 7.3 7.0 a) Ratios refer to persons aged 15 to 64 years who are in employment or in the labour force divided by the working age population, or in unemployment divided by the labour force.