ATHENS — The average unemployment rate in OECD member-states is expected to rise to at least 9.4 pct by the end of 2020, the highest level since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its Employment Outlook 2020 – Worker Security and the Covid-19 Crisis report.

The Paris-based organization based its forecasts on unemployment on two scenarios, equally possible. The first, expects the coronavirus pandemic to continue and the second that there will a second outbreak later in 2020. Average employment in the OECD is expected to fall by 4.1 – 5.0 pct this year and to rise by 0.3 – 1.6 pct in 2021, but even under the good scenario, the average unemployment rate in OECD countries is projected to reach 7.7 pct next year.

For Greece, the OECD expects that a decline employment and an increase in unemployment will be smaller than the average rate in the Organization. Employment, which grew 2.2 pct in 2010 from an 1.0 pct rise in the OECD, is expected to fall by 3.5 – 3.8 pct this year, while unemployment is projected to rise by 2.1 – 2.3 percentage points. The OECD expects employment to fall by 1-1.8 pct in 20201, for a 0.3-1.6 pct increase in the OECD.