Italy's employment rate at 58.3 pct, highest level since 2008

ROME, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Italy's employment rate was 58.3 percent in March, the highest level since 2008, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Wednesday.

It grew by 0.2 percentage point against the previous month, and by 0.5 point on an annual basis, reaching the highest level since October 2008.

A total of 23.13 million people were employed, also the highest number since 2008.

The monthly growth in employment was entirely due to an increase of male workers, while women -- after an increase in the previous months -- registered a decline, ISTAT said in its report.

Italy's overall unemployment rate remained steady at 11 percent compared to February -- and dropped by a 0.5 point compared to March 2017 -- while the inactivity rate decreased monthly by 0.3 percentage point to 34.3 percent.

ISTAT also stated youth unemployment among people aged 15 and 24 was 31.7 percent in March. It marked the lowest rate since December 2011, dropping by 0.9 percentage point compared to February, and by 4.4 percentage points against the same month of 2017, data showed.

Italy has the third highest rate of youth unemployment in the European Union (EU), after Greece (42.3 percent) and Spain (35 percent), according to the EU's statistical agency, Eurostat.

Finally, ISTAT noted the annual growth of the employment rate that was registered in March (up 0.5 points) was entirely due to an increase in temporary contracts, whose number rose by 323,000.

In the same period, the number of both permanent and independent workers dropped by some 51,000 and 81,000 people, respectively. Enditem