Italy's unemployment rate was down a monthly 0.2 percent to 11.1 percent in June with the sharpest falls recorded among young people and women, figures from central statistics agency Istat showed on Monday.
Joblessness among people aged 15-24 dropped 1.1 percent from May to reach 35.4 percent in June and unemployment among women aged 15-64 fell to 0.3 to 12 percent, according to the Istat data.
The proportion of women aged 15-to-64 in employment in Italy reached 48.8 percent in June, the highest level since the start of the statistical series in 1977, and accounted for the overall drop in joblessness, Istat reported.
The 23,000 extra people in work in June (a 0.1 percent monthly rise) partially offset around 53,000 jobs lost in May and were mostly hired on temporary contracts, Istat said. A total 2.69 million people had this type of contract in June, the highest level since Istat began tracking temporary contracts in 1992.
A total of 22.961 million people were employed in June against 2,855 who had no jobs, Istat said.
Italy's overall employment rate, one of the lowest in the euro zone, was up slightly at 57.8 percent from 57.7 percent in May, said Istat.
"#Istat Good news about labour," Italy's centre-left prime minister Paolo Gentiloni tweeted.
"Fewer unemployed, including among the young. Women workers increase."
Italy has emerged from its worst economic crisis since World War II but continues to suffer from decades of low growth.
The Italian government has forecast the economy to expand by 1.1 percent in 2017 and by 1 percent in 2018.
However, household and business confidence climbed in Italy in June after joblessness fell to a five-year low in April and the economy grew the fastest since 2010 in the first quarter.
The International Monetary Fund upped its forecast for Italy's gross domestic product to 1.3 percent this year from an earlier estimate of 0.8 percent, noting in a report last month that the country's growth remains among the weakest in the European Union.
