Unemployment down to 9.7%, lowest since 2012 - ISTAT

(ANSA) - Rome, October 1 - Italy's unemployment rate dropped to 9.7% in August - the lowest level since January 2012, ISTAT said on Monday. The jobless rate was down 0.4 of a percentage point on July and 1.6 points on August 2017, the national statistics agency said. It said the number of unemployed people dropped by 119,000 compared to July to 2.522 million and was down by 438,000 with respect to August 2017.
    The month-on-month jobless drop was down to a rise of 69,000 in the number of people in employment and an increase of 46,000 of people aged 15-64 who are not actively on the labour market.