The graph that shows how bad Eurozone unemployment really is
Over 2013, unemployment stayed stubbornly high across most economies, and despite improving figures, unemployment rates are still well above pre-crisis levels.
Figures from the OECD have shown that, across the 34 member countries, the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 per cent last November.
When it came to the euro area, 47.1m people were unemployed in November – but that's 12.4m more than in July 2008.
In the US the unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 per cent, although 40 per cent of those unemployed are beleaguered by long-term unemployment.
A swathe of worrying data continues to dog the euro area. Core inflation in the Eurozone was down to 0.7 per cent in December, and forecasts don't suggest improvement for at least two years.
Demand for employees hasn't picked up, either. The Eurozone unemployment rate held steady at 12.1 per cent, but Italy saw a new high of 12.7 per cent, fading out signs of recovery.
Although powerhouse economy Germany has levels down to 5.2 per cent, embattled neighbour France hasn't managed to diminish unemployment, with the worringly high rate of 10.8 per cent.
In Japan unemployment rate was unchanged in November at four per cent. Compared to a year earlier, the country saw the number of unemployed fall by 110,000 to 2.49m.
The following graph shows the changes in unemployment rates, comparing the US, Eurozone and Japan:
