Showing a return of faith in the Italian economy, consumer confidence in the nation has reached a two year high.
As many other nations in Europe, the economy in Italy has begun steadily improving since the recession.
The confidence index has increased by almost 4 points since August. Istat, the Italian statistics office based in Rome, revealed yesterday that the confidence index is currently at 101.1 increasing from August’s 98.4.
The Personal Confidence Index is collected through Istat from 2,000 different Italian citizens. These statistics are obtained using surveys judging overall economic satisfaction which includes employment, expected purchases and savings; this information is collected by telephone.
Italy’s unemployment rate has also decreased to 12% from a previous 12.1% which translates into 10,000 newly employed individuals. These statistics are incredibly high for the nation but the improvement is a welcome sign.
In addition, it is an indication that Italy’s financial woes may be coming to an end and it cannot come soon enough as the nation is in the midst of the longest recession it has seen in six decades.
By far the most affected demographic of unemployment is the youth. The unemployment rate for individuals from the age of 15 to the age of 24 is a shocking 39.5%.
Unemployment in the EU
Italy is not alone in its battle against unemployment, the entire EU is suffering as well.
According to the World Fact Book published by the CIA, France has a high rate of 11% as of July 2013.
The country that is suffering the most and is also in the greatest amount debt is Greece. It currently has a shocking unemployment rate of 27.4% as of March 2013 and there are concerns that it will increase further.
Germany is not doing too badly with their rate being only 5.3% as of July.
Luckily, if we look at the entire European Union as a whole and not different individual countries we can see many signs of improvement.
According to the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, “Eurostat estimates that 26.654 million men and women in the EU-28, of whom 19.231 million were in the euro area (EA-17), were unemployed in July 2013. Compared with June 2013, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 33.000 in the EU-28 and by 15.000 in the euro area.”
This gives some hope to the dark situation that Europe is currently facing and there is ample reason to believe that the positive trends in many countries of the region will continue.
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