Padoan says 12% unemployment may be here to stay in Italy

Rome - Italy's 12% unemployment rate is in danger of becoming an economic fixture, the Italian economy minister said Thursday.
    Italy's high unemployment "is at risk of becoming structural, very difficult to eradicate," said Pier Carlo Padoan, who was chief economist for the OECD before becoming a member of Premier Matteo Renzi's cabinet.
    Padoan added that the prospects for the future of jobs in Italy is at stake in the European Parliament elections on May 25.
    "It will be for better or for worse in view of the political choices of citizens" in Italy and in Europe, Padoan concluded.