News release: “The OECD area unemployment rate rose slightly, to 8.3% in October 2011, compared to 8.2% in September. The rate has hovered around this level since January 2011. The Euro area unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point to 10.3% in October 2011, the highest rate recorded since the global financial crisis. The Netherlands (at 4.8%) and Spain (at 22.8%) both registered strong increases (0.3 percentage point). Spain’s rate now stands 14.9 percentage points higher than its previous low of 7.9% in July 2007. By contrast, in Germany the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point to 5.5%, continuing a sustained decline seen since the 8.0% peak in mid-2009.”