ROME, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Italy’s unemployment rate fell to 9.2% in November from 9.4% in October, data showed on Monday, as some 64,000,jobs were created in the month.
A Reuters survey of analysts had forecast a November jobless rate of 9.3%.
In the three months to November, employment was up by 70,000, or 0.3%, compared with the June-to-August period, national statistics bureau ISTAT said, as the economy continued to recover following the 2020 coronavirus-induced recession.
Compared with November 2020 the number of people in work was up by 494,000, or 2.2%, ISTAT said.
However, employment was still down by 115,000 compared with its pre-pandemic level of February 2020, the last month before COVID-19 began to batter Italy.
In November, the youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, edged down to 28.0% from 28.2% the month before.
Italy’s overall employment rate, one of the lowest in the euro zone, rose in November to 58.9% from 58.7%, reaching its highest level since January 2020.
Photo – A woman wearing a face mask takes a photo in a almost deserted Duomo square, in Milan, Italy. EPA-EFE/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO
