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.
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.
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.
Youth unemployment was also the lowest since January 2004.
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.
Employment was up by 228,000 in May compared with the same month last year, an increase of 0.9%.
Italy's employment rate, the lowest in the euro zone, slipped in May to 63.0% from 63.1% the month before.
Employment has risen despite weak economic growth.
Giorgia Meloni's government currently has growth targets of 0.6% for this year and for 2027.
Italian gross domestic product rose 0.5% in 2025, a third straight year of sub-1% growth.
