Posted By Uma Rajagopal
Posted on December 2, 2024
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in October, the lowest reading since April 2007, from a revised 6.0% the month before, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Monday, with a net 47,000 jobs created during the month.
A Reuters survey of seven analysts had forecast an October jobless rate of 6.1%, which was the previously reported figure for September.
In the August-to-October period, employment was up by 121,000 or 0.5%, compared with the previous three months, ISTAT said.
The positive jobs figures contrast with recent data showing a slowing Italian economy, with the manufacturing sector in particular difficulty and shrinking in November at its fastest rate this year.
In October, the number of people in work was up by 363,000, or 1.5%, compared with October 2023.
The youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, fell to 17.7% in October from 18.9% the month before.
Italy’s overall employment rate, one of the lowest in the euro zone, edged up in October to 62.5% from 62.4% in September.
Gross domestic product stagnated in the third quarter compared to the previous three months, according to preliminary data, pointing to full-year growth well below the government’s 1% target.
The statistics institute said in October that if the fourth quarter also stagnates, then over the whole of 2024 growth will be just 0.4%, down from last year’s 0.7% rate.
ISTAT will issue definitive third quarter GDP figures at 1000 GMT.
(Reporting By Gavin Jones, graphic by Stefano Bernabei)
