Still, there are a few rays of hope for the United States as the housing market is showing signs of a slow but sure comeback. The OECD also forecast U.S. GDP will grow by 2.8 percent in 2014 and that the jobless rate will drop to 7.5 percent by 2014 -- still high, but good news considering that unemployment has hovered over the 8 percent mark for nearly four years except for one month.
The news comes amid projections of an "uneven" global recovery coming over the next two years. "The world economy is far from being out of the woods," OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said.
Indeed, labor remains weak in the OECD area, which comprises 34 mostly developed world economies, with around 50 million jobless and unemployment expected to remain high or even rise further in many cases, unless "structural measures are used to boost near-term employment growth," the report said.
The Euro area crisis remains a serious threat to the world economy despite recent measures that have "dampened near-term pressures," with the report forecasting the region's economy to contract by 0.1 percent next year and grow by a mere 1.3 percent in 2014.
Detective-Conan-themed Lawson convenience store opens in Shanghai