Italy Jobless Rate Steady At 6.1%

(RTTNews) - Italy's unemployment rate held steady at a nearly seventeen-and-a-half-year low in September, the statistical office ISTAT reported Thursday.

The jobless rate stood at 6.1 percent in September, the same as in the previous month after revised data. Economists had expected a rate of 6.2 percent.

In the corresponding month last year, the rate was 7.7 percent.

Further, this was the weakest jobless rate since June 2007, when it was 6.0 percent.

At the same time, the employment rate dropped slightly to 62.1 percent from 62.3 percent.

The youth unemployment rate came in at 18.3 percent in September, up from 18.1 percent in August.