Italy’s Jobless Rate Rises to 8.6% in January
March 2nd, 2010
Italy’s unemployment rate rose in January for the eighth straight month as job losses kept mounting after the $2.3 trillion economy contracted in the fourth quarter.
Unemployment climbed to a seasonally adjusted 8.6 percent from 8.5 percent in December, Italy’s statistics office Istat said today. The rate matched the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 8 economists.
Italy shrank in the three months through December after emerging in the previous quarter from its worst recession since World War II. Italian industrial production unexpectedly fell in the last month of 2009 as businesses shed jobs and announced new layoffs on lower demand.
The euro region’s third-biggest economy will grow 1 percent in 2010 as higher-than-reported unemployment limits household spending, the Bank of Italy said Jan. 15.
The economic recovery will be “modest and fragile” this year, central bank Director General Fabrizio Saccomanni said last week. He said the economic pick-up in Italy will be mostly driven by exports as investments stagnate and joblessness rises.
Fiat SpA, the country’s biggest manufacturer, said last week it’s laying off about 1,000 workers at a truck plant near Turin due to declining demand. Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell for a second month in February as job cuts fueled household pessimism, research institute Isae said on Feb. 23.
Story from Business Week
