Today, ISTAT released new data on the Italian labor market.
The unemployment rate was up 0.1% (february on january) and the number of employees fell by 0.4% . Should we worry? I think we should.
The rate uf unemployment has been creeping up , and the number of employees has been falling, since August 2015, well before the reduction of tax incentives for permanent jobs which occurred only in January 2016.
Moreover, a look a the most recent data on consumer and producer prices (respectively -0.2% and -3.5% year to year in february), sales and orders (-0.3%, +0.1% y/y) and confidence (down for firms, weekly up for consumers), suggest that the recovery is probably stalling. No April fool.
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| Source: Istat |