Italy’s unemployment rate dropped to 11.1% in June, down 0.2 of a percentage point with respect to May, the national statistics agency ISTAT said on Monday.
The agency said this took the rate down to the same level as September-October 2012. It added that the proportion of women aged 15-to-64 in employment in Italy reached 48.8% in June, the highest level since the start of the statistical series in 1977, INSA reported.
Unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds who are actively on the labor market, meanwhile, dropped to 35.4% in Italy in June, down 1.1 percentage points with respect to May, ISTAT said.
Total number of people in employment rose by 23,000 in June with respect to May, ISTAT said. The rise was determined by a 37,000 increase in the number of people working on temporary contracts to enable the employment level to regain some of the ground that had been lost in May.
Indeed, the number of people employed on temporary contracts climbed to 2.69 million in June, the highest level since the start of the statistical series for this factor in 1992, the agency said.
Premier Paolo Gentiloni welcomed ISTAT’s employment data and linked the positive developments to the Jobs Act labor reform passed by the previous administration of Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi, which he was part of.
Meanwhile, according to RTE report, solving Italy’s problems would go a long way towards solving the wider problems of the Eurozone.
The IMF recently said in its report: “Average Italians still earn less than two decades ago. Their take-home pay took a dip during the crisis and has still not yet caught up with the growth in key eurozone countries. On current projections, it could take nearly a decade for wages to return to their 2007 levels—during a period when eurozone partners are expected to pull even further ahead in Europe’s multi-speed economy.
The growth slowdown and the burden of the crisis have fallen disproportionately on the working age population and younger generations. Unemployment, including among the young, is very high, while in general and taking into account price changes, the incomes and wealth of the working age population have declined below 1995 levels. That is in contrast to those of older households and pensioners.
