Across the OECD area, 42.9 million people were unemployed in February, compared to 43.2 million in January, the economic think-tank’s figures show.

The unemployment rate fell in the eurozone by 0.1 percentage point to 11.3%, taking the number of unemployed people to 18.2.

Unemployment increased in Finland, Portugal and Italy, the figures showed.

The OECD said youth unemployment remained exceptionally high in several eurozone countries such as Greece (51.2% in December, the latest month available), Italy (42.6%), Portugal (35.0%) and Spain (50.7%).

In the US, the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point from 5.7% to 5.5%, its lowest level since May 2008, but it increased in Canada by 0.2 percentage point to 6.8%.

Figures for Japan show a fall in the unemployment rate by 0.1 percentage point to 3.5%.