Economic Outlook No 115 — Potential employment of total economy by country
May 2024 - 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...
What the numbers show
Economic Outlook No 115 — Potential employment of total economy is currently reported for 36 countries. The highest value is 166.71 million in United States of America; the lowest is 223,165 in Iceland.
The median across all reporting countries is 5.23 million, and the mean is 17.60 million.
The gap between the highest and lowest reporting country is a factor of about 747.
Over the past decade 34 countries rose and 2 fell. The largest increase was in Ireland (up 32.8%), and the largest decrease in Romania (down 2.2%).
Economic Outlook No 115 — Potential employment of total economy: full country ranking
| # | Country | Latest | Year | 10-year change | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States of America | 166.71 million | 2025 | up 6.2% | rising |
| 2 | Japan | 66.97 million | 2025 | up 4.4% | rising |
| 2 | Türkiye | 32.78 million | 2025 | up 25.3% | rising |
| 3 | Mexico | 60.40 million | 2025 | up 19.5% | rising |
| 3 | Poland | 16.87 million | 2025 | up 5.2% | rising |
| 3 | Croatia | 1.78 million | 2025 | up 13.6% | rising |
| 4 | Germany | 46.19 million | 2025 | up 6.7% | rising |
| 4 | Netherlands | 10.57 million | 2025 | up 18.2% | rising |
| 5 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | 33.74 million | 2025 | up 8.5% | rising |
| 5 | Lithuania | 1.49 million | 2025 | up 10.6% | rising |
| 6 | France | 30.36 million | 2025 | up 10.8% | rising |
| 6 | Slovenia | 1.08 million | 2025 | up 10.1% | rising |
| 7 | Italy | 25.77 million | 2025 | up 2.4% | rising |
| 7 | Estonia | 691,551 | 2025 | up 11.6% | rising |
| 8 | Spain | 21.20 million | 2025 | up 11.5% | rising |
| 9 | Canada | 20.67 million | 2025 | up 14.6% | rising |
| 10 | Australia | 14.32 million | 2025 | up 20.1% | rising |
| 11 | Chile | 9.52 million | 2025 | up 16.7% | rising |
| 12 | Romania | 8.37 million | 2025 | down 2.2% | falling |
| 13 | Czechia | 5.42 million | 2025 | up 4.3% | rising |
| 14 | Sweden | 5.36 million | 2025 | up 12.5% | rising |
| 15 | Switzerland | 5.23 million | 2025 | up 7.1% | rising |
| 16 | Belgium | 5.23 million | 2025 | up 12.0% | rising |
| 17 | Portugal | 5.08 million | 2025 | up 7.6% | rising |
| 18 | Greece | 4.94 million | 2025 | up 11.3% | rising |
| 19 | Hungary | 4.94 million | 2025 | up 15.6% | rising |
| 20 | Israel | 4.73 million | 2025 | up 20.5% | rising |
| 21 | Austria | 4.72 million | 2025 | up 8.5% | rising |
| 22 | Bulgaria | 3.42 million | 2025 | down 1.0% | flat |
| 23 | Denmark | 3.12 million | 2025 | up 9.7% | rising |
| 24 | New Zealand | 2.88 million | 2025 | up 22.0% | rising |
| 25 | Norway | 2.84 million | 2025 | up 7.1% | rising |
| 26 | Finland | 2.77 million | 2025 | up 7.1% | rising |
| 27 | Ireland | 2.74 million | 2025 | up 32.8% | rising |
| 28 | Luxembourg | 533,853 | 2025 | up 30.9% | rising |
| 29 | Iceland | 223,165 | 2025 | up 23.3% | 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) 166.68 million
- Korea 28.27 million
- Slovak Republic 2.43 million
About this data
May 2024 - 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. OECD (2024), OECD Economic Outlook No 115 (Edition 2024/1) EO115 Database documentation EO115 Last historical points gdp inflation cpi population unemployment real gdp gdp per capita employment OECD Economic Outlook website: https://www.oecd.org/economic-outlook/ Contact: eco.outlook@oecd.org Keywords: Outlook, forecasts, forecast, GDP