Unemployment in Italy rises to 10,7% in February
Italy's economy is expected to register zero growth this year, the Italian Economy Minister said today, falling far short of the 1% growth initially predicted by the coalition government, formed by the 5 Star Movement and the League Party, which has led the country since 2018.
“We are going to have a general slowdown in economic growth across Europe and, in Italy, in 2019, we are heading towards 0% growth,” said Giovanni Tria.
The Italian Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are less pessimistic and expect Italian GDP to expand by 0,6%.
In 2018, Italian GDP expanded by 0,9% and entered a technical recession in the second half of the year, reflecting the negative impact of the slowdown in the European economy and trade tensions, particularly between the United States and China.
Unemployment rose
The unemployment rate in Italy rose 0,1 percentage point in February and reached 10,7%, according to provisional data released this Monday (1st) by the National Statistics Institute (Istat).
This is the first increase in the indicator since October 2018, in yet another worrying sign for the Italian economy. Among young people aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate fell by 0,1 point and stood at 32,8%.
The number of people looking for work rose 1,2% in February, reaching 2,77 million, while the number of employed individuals fell by 14 thousand units (-0,1%).
Unemployment has remained high in Italy since the 2008 crisis, despite reforms promoted by governments that passed Roma in the last decade.
With information from DNoticias and Agência Ansa
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