ROME: Italy’s average youth unemployment rate fell to 40.3 percent in 2015 – the first time the rate for the year has fallen since 2007.
The jobless rate among Italy’s 15 to 24 year was 2.4 percent lower last year than in 2014, Istat, the national statistics office, said on Thursday. The overall unemployment rate fell to 11.9 percent from 12.7 percent in 2014, also marking the first annual drop since 2007.
Italy’s growth prospects are also looking slightly more positive, with Istat forecasting a 0.1 percent rise in GDP for the first three months of this year. The rise is driven by consumer spending, although foreign demand for exports is expected to slow.
