(ANSA) - Rome, July 31 - Italy's unemployment rate dropped to 11.1% in June, down 0.2 of a percentage point with respect to May, ISTAT said on Monday. The national statistics agency said this took the rate down to the same level as September-October 2012. It added that the proportion of women aged 15-to-64 in employment in Italy reached 48.8% in June, the highest level since the start of the statistical series in 1977.

The unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds who are actively on the labour market, meanwhile, dropped to 35.4% in Italy in June, down 1.1 percentage points with respect to May, ISTAT said.

The total number of people in employment rose by 23,000 in June with respect to May, ISTAT said. The rise was determined by a 37,000 increase in the number of people working on temporary contracts to enable the employment level to regain some of the ground that had been lost in May. Indeed, the number of people employed on temporary contracts climbed to 2.69 million in June, the highest level since the start of the statistical series for this factor in 1992, the agency. Premier Paolo Gentiloni welcomed ISTAT's employment data and linked the positive developments to the Jobs Act labour reform passed by the previous administration of Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi, which he was part of.

"#Istat Good news about labour," Gentiloni said via Twitter.

"Fewer unemployed, including among young. Women workers increase. "Confidence in results of Jobs Act and return of growth".

