Unemployment up but youth jobless down (2)

(ANSA) - Rome, March 1 - Italy's unemployment rate rose back up to 11.1% in January, up 0.2 of a percentage point with respect to December, but the youth jobless rate fell to its lowest level since 2011, ISTAT said on Thursday. The national statistics agency said that it was the first rise in the headline jobless rate since July.
    It said that the number of people actively looking for work increased by 64,000, after five months of falls, although the number was down 147,000 in year-on-year terms.
    The agency said 2.882 million people were unemployed in Italy. The unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds who are actively on the labour market dropped to 31.5% in January, a fall of 1.2 percentage points, ISTAT said. The agency said it is the lowest level since December 2011, when the youth jobless rate was 31.2%.
    It said there was a "strong rise" in the number of under-25s in employment in January of 61,000, taking the total figure up to 1.074 million.
    As a result the employment rate for young people rose to 18.3%, the highest since October 2012. The employment rate for women in Italy reached a record high of 49.3% in January, ISTAT said. The statistics agency added that the proportion of working-age women who are not active on the labour market dropped to an all-time low of 43.7%.
    Nevertheless, the proportion of women in Italy who are in employment is still almost 20 percentage points lower than the rate of 67% for men.