Italy’s youth jobless hits record high 30 percent

Italy’s youth unemployment has reached a new record high of over 30 percent, as it confirms that the euro-zone’s third-largest economy is already in recession

Press TV
January 5, 2012

According to seasonally adjusted figures released by ISTAT on Thursday, the unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 years have reached 30.1 percent in November, while the country’s overall unemployment rate stands at 8.6 percent.

The number of people looking for work across the Italy rose to 2.142 million in November, which is up 0.7 percent compared to October.

The 8.6 percent figure registered for November is the highest jobless rate since May 2010. Unemployment in Italy has followed an upward trend since summer.

The surge in the unemployment comes even before the imposition of government’s harsh austerity measures, which will crush domestic demand and makes labor reform even more challenging.

Italian Prime Minster Monti has warned that the country would “collapse” like Greece without the new austerity measures, saying the package would also help solve the eurozone debt crisis.

Italy’s debt, totaling around 1.9 trillion euros, is at 120 percent of its Gross Domestic Product. The government has said it will meet its target of balancing the budget by 2013.

PG/JR/IS

This article was posted: Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:32 am

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