Over 44 million people jobless in OECD region

More than 44 million people were without a job in March in the OECD region -- a grouping of countries which account for over 60 per cent of global output.

Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has 34 member countries including the US, Germany, the UK and Japan.

"There were 44.4 million unemployed persons in OECD countries in March, 2011," the grouping said on Tuesday.

The employment market, especially in developed nations, are still to stabilise after being ravaged by the 2008 financial meltdown that swept away millions of jobs worldwide.

According to the OECD, the count of jobless people in March is lower by 2.6 million as compared to March last year.

But the latest figure is "still 13.6 million higher than in March 2008".

In March, 2008, the number of unemployed people was little over 30 million in the OECD region. Meanwhile, the jobless rate in the OECD region stood unchanged at 8.2 per cent in March as compared to February.

"For the first time since the start of the financial crisis in 2007, unemployment rates are showing a steady or declining pattern in most OECD countries. Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden were the only countries whose unemployment rates rose in March," OECD said in a statement.

Spain saw the highest unemployment rate in the region at 20.7 per cent. Among the OECD nations, Hungary (11.9 per cent), Ireland (14.7 per cent), Portugal (11.1 per cent), and the Slovak Republic (13.9 per cent) continue to see high unemployment levels.