ROME – More than 100,000 people lost jobs in Italy in December, official data showed today, fuelling concern about the rising economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
The number of those employed fell by 101,000 from the level in November to 22.8 million, reversing a positive trend during which the number of working people had risen by 220,000 in the July to November period, national statistics agency Istat said.
Since February 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic first struck Italy, the ranks of people out of work have increased by around 426,000.
According to Francesco Seghezzi, president of labour market think tank Adapt, female and youth employment was hit disproportionally hard by the slump.
In March, Italy was the first country in Europe to go into national lockdown to combat the spread of the virus, with devastating consequences for its economy.
The government tried to protect workers by subsidising furlough schemes and prohibiting employers from firing staff, but the ban on layoffs is set to expire on March 31.
Earlier this month, the Bank of Italy said it expected gross domestic product (GDP) to shrink by a record 9.2% in 2020, and output to return to pre-pandemic levels only in 2023.
Istat is to release its official GDP estimate for 2020 on Tuesday. – AFP, February 1, 2021
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