Italy’s unemployment rate at more than 15-year low

The unemployment rate in Italy has decreased to an over 15-year low in March, the latest data by the National Institute of Statistics showed.

The jobless rate was reported at 7.2% in March, down from 7.4% in February.

In comparison, market consensus had pointed to a rate of 7.5%.

The number of unemployed persons dropped by 53,000 to 1.855 million in March, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the number of persons in employment went up by 70,000 to 23.849 million.

Italy’s youth unemployment rate, which tracks job-seekers aged between 15 and 24, decreased to 20.1% in March.

It has been the lowest rate since July 2007.

The Euro was 0.28% firmer on the day against the British Pound, with the EUR/GBP currency pair last trading at 0.8581.

The currency pair was holding not far from a one-week high of 0.8586, which it touched earlier in the session.

The Forex pair looked set to register a 0.34% weekly gain.