Unemployment in Italy fell in 2015
for the first time in seven years, national statistics agency
Istat said on Thursday.
Last year Italy's average unemployment rate was 11.9%, down
from 12.7% in 2014, the institute said.
The number of employed people in Italy rose by 186,000
(+0.8%) in 2015, taking the employment rate up to 56.3%.
This translated into a rise of 0.6%, Istat added.
Employment rose particularly in southern regions, which saw
the biggest job losses during the prolonged economic crisis.
Here, the number of employed people rose by 94,000, with
most of the new employed being men.
The youth unemployment rate for the year also fell.
The average unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds who
are on the labour market was 40.3% in 2015, down 2.4 percentage
points on the previous year.
This was the first time the youth unemployment rate for the
year had fallen since 2007, before the onset of the economic
crisis, Istat said.
Italy's unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2015
was 11.5%, according to seasonally adjusted data also released
on Thursday.
The unemployment rate was steady after the national
statistics agency revised down its figure for the third quarter
from 11.7% to 11.5%.
The number of people in work rose by 184,000 in the fourth
quarter, driven by a rise in permanent hires.
"Permanent employment is growing and unemployment is coming
down. It is the sign that the reforms that have been introduced,
particularly the Jobs Act (labour market reform), are having a
positive effect in terms of employment growth and
stabilisation," the ruling Democratic Party's economics and
labour spokesman Filippo Taddei said.
Italy's second largest trade union federation CISL also
described the figures as "positive".
"There is not, and could not be, an employment boom in the
presence of GDP that has at last returned to growth but is
certainly not elating, but a series of positive indicators like
this has not been seen for years," said confederal secretary
Gigi Petteni.
"In particular we are seeing a gradual decanting from false
freelance work and temping to stable employment," he continued.
"The decision to make stable employment cost less than
temporary employment is paying off … Now the government needs to
focus its efforts on making this choice structural," Petteni
concluded.
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