Finally, Section 4 considers what lessons for the design and operation of income support systems for job losers and other unemployed people can be drawn from countries’ experiences during the Great Recession. For the OECD area as a whole, the unemployment rate increased from 5.7% in the first quarter of 2008 (its recent low value) to a post-war high of 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009. This 3.1 percentage point increase corresponds to approximately 17 million additional jobless persons.