A surprise uptick in Italy's unemployment rate and continued deflation reported Tuesday raised concerns about the nascent economic recovery and gave critics of Premier Matteo Renzi ammunition to complain he is too quick to claim a turnaround.
As new statistics showed the jobless rate edged up in February to 12.7%, some consumer groups, unions and political opponents said the figures show the country is still struggling.
The government has not been honest when it claims it is improving Italy's employment picture, said Beppe Grillo, leader of the 5-Star Movement (M5S).
Consumer groups Federconsumatori and Adusbef added that government "boasts" of an economic recovery and overly rosy reports of rising consumer optimism are undermined by the newest employment figures.
The latest inflation report showing a continued low of -0.1% in March, unchanged from February, is further "dramatic news" adding to consumer fears for their finances, the consumer groups said.
On Monday, Istat reported that consumer confidence hit highs in March not seen since 2002 while business confidence rose to 2008 levels.
The government must devise an employment plan for the country, said the heads of the consumer groups Rosario Trefiletti and Elio Lannutti.
"It's time to turn the page, but to do so it is necessary for the government to become aware that employment must be the top priority for the government," they said.
Last week, Renzi's government boasted that some 79,000 new contracts had been signed in the first two months of the year, attributing that to measures in its new Jobs Act.
Grillo dismissed that conclusion.
"79,000 new contracts is not new hires," or new jobs but more likely represents the continuation of work under different terms or agreements, Grillo said in a post on his Facebook page.
The latest figures "prove, if proof were needed, that the economic and employment situation in the country is still very critical," said Susanna Camusso, secretary-general of the CGIL trade union federation.
"We should stop saying that the recovery is around the corner," when the evidence says something else, she said.
Grillo added that decreases in the jobless rate recorded in previous months likely reflected the number of unemployed who became discouraged and dropped out of the job hunt, thus reducing the official unemployment rate.
In addition to the higher jobless rate in February, up from 12.6% the month before, Istat added that the number of unemployed people officially increased by 23,000 last month.
Unemployment peaked at 13.2% in November, before dropping to 12.7% in December and sliding to 12.6% in January. The unemployment rate for Italians aged 15 to 24, meanwhile, rose to 42.6% in February, Istat said, up 1.3 percentage points on January and 0.1 of a point compared to the same month in 2014. That data only concerns under-25s who are on the job market, and therefore young people who are in education or out of work but not actively looking for a job are not considered.
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