ROME, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Italy's overall jobless rate fell slightly in February, while decreased to a record low among youth, the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Monday.
National unemployment was at 11.5 percent, with a 0.3 percent drop compared to 11.8 percent (revised from 11.9 percent) in January.
Unemployment among people aged 15-24 dropped to 35.2 percent against 37.9 percent in the previous month. It also decreased by 3.6 percent compared to the same month in 2016, ISTAT data showed.
It was the lowest level registered since August 2012, according to La Repubblica newspaper.
Some 22.86 million people were overall employed in February 2017, and the rate was 57.5 percent, unchanged over January, ISTAT said.
"The stability in the number of employees compared to the previous month resulted from an increase in the female component and a decrease in the male one," the institute added.
Female employment in fact rose by 0.3 percentage point (48.4 percent), while the male rate fell by 0.2 point (66.7 percent).
