PARIS: The unemployment rate across rich countries held steady for the second straight month at 7.9 percent in October, the OECD said on Tuesday with 47.8 million people officially without work in the 34 countries.

The eurozone rate dipped over the period to 12.1 percent, while the rate in the United States rose slightly to 7.3 percent, but more recent data has showed that the rate there decreased to 7.0 percent in November.

Young people are the worse hit, but the jobless rate was unchanged at 16.1 percent in October, more than twice as high as the overall average, with Greece especially hard hit with a staggering 58 percent of young people out of work.

The rate of unemployment for both men and women across the 34 countries was at 7.9 percent, a slightly higher rate for women, but flat for men.