Confindustria raises growth forecasts, sounds alarm on young

(ANSA) - Rome, September 14 - The CSC research unit of Italian industrial employers confederation Confindustria said Thursday that it has raised its growth forecasts. It said it predicts GDP rising 1.5% this year and 1.3% in 2018, compared to 1.3% and 1.1% respectively in forecasts released three months ago. The research unit added, however, that "the inadequate level of youth employment is producing serious permanent consequences on Italy's society and economy in the form of the impoverishment of social and human capital". It described the situation as an "emergency" and the "Achilles heel" of the Italian economic system. It added that the related phenomenon of under-40s leaving Italy to find work produced "a loss of human capital estimated at one GDP percentage point a year".