PARIS, Sept 17 - Unemployment in the industrialised world is set to fall next year after rising since 2001, though the jobless rate will remain flat in Japan and Germany in 2004, the OECD said on Wednesday. In a report entitled "Employment Outlook -- Towards More and Better Jobs", the think-tank said governments in its 30 member countries needed to do more to improve job opportunities for women, older workers, the disabled and low-skilled workers. "Without more and better jobs for such groups who are under-represented in the workforce, the prospects for economic growth in many countries will be undermined as the population ages," the OECD said in a statement accompanying the report.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast the average unemployment rate in its member countries would fall to 6.8 percent next year from 7.0 percent this year. In the United States, unemployment would drop to 5.8 percent in 2004 from 6.0 percent this year. In Japan, it would be unchanged from this year at 5.7 percent in 2004, and Germany's jobless rate would also hold steady in 2004 at 8.3 percent.//