Economic Outlook No 114 — Total employment (labour force survey basis) by country
The OECD Economic Outlook presents the OECD’s analysis of the major global economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, government spending, prices and current balances based on a review of each member country and of the...
What the numbers show
Economic Outlook No 114 — Total employment (labour force survey basis) is currently reported for 43 countries. The highest value is 665.10 million in OECD; the lowest is 223,448 in Iceland.
The median across all reporting countries is 5.29 million, and the mean is 33.68 million.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 2,977.
Over the past decade 41 countries rose and 2 fell. The largest increase was in Ireland (up 31.4%), and the largest decrease in Latvia (down 1.3%).
Economic Outlook No 114 — Total employment: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OECD | 665.10 million | 2025 | up 11.5% | rising |
| 2 | United States of America | 162.60 million | 2025 | up 9.2% | rising |
| 2 | Türkiye | 32.46 million | 2025 | up 22.3% | rising |
| 3 | Brazil | 101.77 million | 2025 | up 10.4% | rising |
| 3 | Poland | 16.91 million | 2025 | up 7.5% | rising |
| 3 | Croatia | 1.78 million | 2025 | up 12.3% | rising |
| 4 | Japan | 67.36 million | 2025 | up 5.2% | rising |
| 4 | Netherlands | 9.78 million | 2025 | up 15.6% | rising |
| 5 | Mexico | 61.86 million | 2025 | up 22.1% | rising |
| 5 | Lithuania | 1.47 million | 2025 | up 10.0% | flat |
| 6 | Germany | 42.87 million | 2025 | up 8.4% | rising |
| 6 | Slovenia | 995,742 | 2025 | up 8.5% | rising |
| 7 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 33.22 million | 2025 | up 6.2% | rising |
| 7 | Latvia | 884,825 | 2025 | down 1.3% | falling |
| 8 | France | 28.72 million | 2025 | up 8.6% | rising |
| 8 | Estonia | 699,622 | 2025 | up 9.2% | falling |
| 9 | Italy | 24.00 million | 2025 | up 8.5% | rising |
| 10 | Colombia | 23.51 million | 2025 | up 12.7% | rising |
| 11 | Spain | 22.01 million | 2025 | up 23.2% | rising |
| 12 | Canada | 20.64 million | 2025 | up 15.3% | rising |
| 13 | Peru | 17.92 million | 2025 | up 12.7% | rising |
| 14 | South Africa | 16.91 million | 2025 | up 7.4% | rising |
| 15 | Australia | 14.32 million | 2025 | up 21.7% | rising |
| 16 | Chile | 9.46 million | 2025 | up 14.0% | rising |
| 17 | Romania | 7.52 million | 2025 | up 0.9% | flat |
| 18 | Sweden | 5.32 million | 2025 | up 10.7% | rising |
| 19 | Belgium | 5.29 million | 2025 | up 12.6% | rising |
| 20 | Czechia | 5.09 million | 2025 | up 4.5% | rising |
| 21 | Portugal | 5.03 million | 2025 | up 15.6% | rising |
| 22 | Switzerland | 4.87 million | 2025 | up 7.3% | rising |
| 23 | Hungary | 4.77 million | 2025 | up 9.9% | rising |
| 24 | Austria | 4.50 million | 2025 | up 8.4% | rising |
| 25 | Israel | 4.41 million | 2025 | up 21.1% | rising |
| 26 | Greece | 4.31 million | 2025 | up 19.3% | flat |
| 27 | Bulgaria | 3.03 million | 2025 | down 0.2% | rising |
| 28 | New Zealand | 2.98 million | 2025 | up 25.6% | rising |
| 29 | Norway | 2.91 million | 2025 | up 9.3% | rising |
| 30 | Denmark | 2.84 million | 2025 | up 8.2% | rising |
| 31 | Ireland | 2.70 million | 2025 | up 31.4% | rising |
| 32 | Finland | 2.66 million | 2025 | up 10.8% | rising |
| 33 | Costa Rica | 2.12 million | 2025 | up 3.2% | rising |
| 34 | Luxembourg | 297,754 | 2025 | up 22.1% | rising |
| 35 | Iceland | 223,448 | 2025 | up 23.9% | rising |
Regions and income groups
Aggregates are excluded from the country ranking above so that a region can never outrank a country.
- Euro area (17 countries) 158.79 million
- Korea 28.45 million
- Slovak Republic 2.58 million
About this data
The OECD Economic Outlook presents the OECD’s analysis of the major global economic trends and prospects for the next two years. The Outlook puts forward a consistent set of projections for output, employment, government spending, prices and current balances based on a review of each member country and of the induced effect on each of them on international developments. EO114 Database inventory EO114 Last historical points OECD Economic Outlook website: https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/ Contact: eco.outlook@oecd.org