By Xavier Fontdegloria 
 

Italy's unemployment rate edged up in October and employment levels decreased slightly, data from the country's statistics office Istat showed Wednesday.

The country's unemployment rate, which includes only active job seekers, increased to 9.8% in October from an upwardly revised 9.7% in September.

In October, 13,000 jobs were lost and the number of unemployed rose by 11,000, Istat said.

The number of people working in Italy is still 420,000 below the figure registered in February, the month before the coronavirus pandemic hit the country and the first lockdown measures came into effect. The number of unemployed has increased by 80,000 people since then, while the number of those inactive--people who don't work and aren't actively seeking for a job--has surged by almost 230,000.

Italy's economy grew by 15.9% during the third quarter compared to the previous one, after contracting by 13% from April to June. Despite the strong rebound, Italy's third-quarter gross domestic product was still 5% below the level recorded a year earlier, data from Istat showed.

The Italian economy--the eurozone's third-largest--is expected to contract again in the fourth quarter as a new surge in coronavirus cases and renewed government restrictions hit economic activity.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 02, 2020 05:42 ET (10:42 GMT)

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