Number of unemployed drops below two-million mark - ISTAT

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 14 - ISTAT said Wednesday that the number of unemployed people in Italy dropped below the two million mark for the first time since 2011 in the third quarter of this year, falling to 1.981 million.
    According to the national statistics agency's seasonally adjusted data, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.9% in the July-September period.
    That was the lowest level since 2009 and down by 0.2 of a percentage point on the previous three months and by 1.2 points on the third quarter of last year.
    The employment rate, meanwhile, remained steady at 60.2%, the highest level on record since the start of the statistical series on 2004.
    The employment rate was 1.1 points up compared to the third quarter of 2021.
    ISTAT said that in absolute terms, 23.126 million people were in work in the third quarter.
    That was 12,000 down in the previous three months, with a 34,000 rise in short-term contracts and a 12,000 increase the number of self-employed not making up for a drop of around 59,000 in the number of people on permanent contracts.
    The number of people in work was up by 247,000 with respect to the equivalent period in 2021 though.
    ISTAT said 1.107 million people in Italy had stopped looking for a job as they have given up hope of finding one, a rise of 8.4% on the third quarter of last year. (ANSA).