The average unemployment rate in Italy, 8,6%, can be misleading. Of the 2,155 million unemployed throughout the Peninsula, about 50% (1,003 million) is found in the South. In the North, the number of jobless people decreases to 762.000 (35%) while in the center there are only 390.000, the remaining 18%. This image of an Italy split in two is what emerges from the Istat data released today on the first quarter of 2011.
From the data, distinct region by region, it can be observed that the highest rates are recorded in Campania where there are 286.000 unemployed, about 15% of the population. That is, this single region absorbs 13% of the unemployed in all of Italy. Sicily does not have such a different position, and counting the two regions together, the total number of unemployed is over half a million.
Trentino Alto Adige is the most virtuous region with an unemployment rate of 3,9%, the lowest in Italy. Emilia Romagna also did very well, with 5,2% and Veneto, with 5,4% unemployed.
As far as the female situation is concerned, Sicily boasts the unenviable record of jobless women, who are 18,1% on the island.
