Italy's unemployment rate declined to 5.9% in February, down from 6.2% in January, reaching its lowest point since April 2007, according to the latest data released on Tuesday.

The country’s national statistics agency, ISTAT, also reported the creation of 47,000 new jobs during the month, providing a positive boost for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

A Reuters news agency survey of 11 analysts had predicted a jobless rate of 6.3% for February, expecting it to remain steady at January’s revised level.

However, in February, the number of people employed in Italy, the eurozone's third-largest economy, increased by 567,000, or 2.4%, compared to the same month in 2024.

Furthermore, between December and February, employment rose by 199,000, or 0.8%, compared to the previous three-month period, according to ISTAT.

This sustained growth in employment has occurred despite a largely stagnant economy and flat wages.

Italy's gross domestic product grew by only 0.7% in each of the past two years, and most analysts predict a similarly slow pace of growth in 2025.

Meanwhile, Italy's employment rate, one of the lowest in the eurozone, increased slightly in February to 63% from 62.9% the previous month, reaching its highest level since ISTAT began tracking the data in 2004.

On a less positive note, the number of “inactive” individuals, referring to those neither working nor actively seeking work, rose by 33,000, or 0.3%, in February.

As a result, the activity rate slightly dropped to 67.1% from 67.2%.

The youth unemployment rate, which tracks job-seekers aged 15 to 24, dropped to 16.9% in February from 18.3% in January, marking the lowest level since the series began in 2024.