Italy’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in three years in November, the national statistics office said on Thursday.
The number of people out of jobs dropped by nearly 500,000 year-on-year in November, taking the unemployment rate to 11.3%, 0.2 percentage points down from October, Ansa reported.
This is its lowest level since November 2012, when it stood at 11.2%.
“Italy is back on track, back at work,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tweeted in reaction to the data which he said demonstrated the success of his signature Jobs Act, a package of labor law reforms.
November also saw a dent in youth unemployment, where the rate dropped by 1.2 points to a still very high 38.1% of 15 to 24-year olds being out of a job.
The overall number of employed people rose by 36,000, or 0.2%, in November after two successive months of decline.
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Friday on Twitter that “incomes are rising, unemployment is falling; structural reforms are working, Italy is using “flexibility well”, commenting on the latest set of economic data from statistics agency Istat.
On Thursday Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem urged Italy not to exaggerate in using flexibility. Istat reported Friday that household income was 1.5% up in the last year, and on Thursday said unemployment was down to a three-year low of 11.3% in November.
