ROME, July 2 (Reuters) - Italy's unemployment rate fell slightly to 5.0% in May but a net 22,000 jobs were lost during the month, with the fall in the jobless rate due to people no longer looking for work, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Thursday.
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The unemployment rate was below a median forecast of 5.1% in a Reuters poll of eight analysts and was the lowest since ISTAT's current statistical series began in January 2004.
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The youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, fell in May to 15.1% from a downwardly revised 16.4% in April.
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Youth unemployment was also the lowest since January 2004.
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Despite the jobs lost in May, in the three months from March to May employment was still up 0.5% compared with the December-February period, with 119,000 more people in work.
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Employment was up by 228,000 in May compared with the same month last year, an increase of 0.9%.
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Italy's employment rate, the lowest in the euro zone, slipped in May to 63.0% from 63.1% the month before.
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Employment has risen despite weak economic growth.
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Giorgia Meloni's government currently has growth targets of 0.6% for this year and for 2027.
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Italian gross domestic product rose 0.5% in 2025, a third straight year of sub-1% growth.
Reporting By Gavin Jones, graphic by Stefano Bernabei
Source: Reuters