Labour, Istat: January unemployment rate falls to 5.1%, new low

In January 2026, the number of employed persons, at 24 million 181 thousand, was up from the previous month. The increase involves both employees - permanent (16 million 455 thousand) and fixed-term (2 million 449 thousand) - and the self-employed (5 million 277 thousand). Employment also increased compared to January 2025 (+70 thousand employed in one year), due to the growth of permanent employees (+71 thousand) and of the self-employed (+195 thousand) against the drop in term employees (-196 thousand). On a monthly basis, the employment rate rose to 62.6 per cent and the inactivity rate to 33.9 per cent, while the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1 per cent (-0.4 points; the lowest level since the beginning of the historical series in 2004) . Taking the snapshot of the health of the labour market is ISTAT, which published the provisional estimate of the employed and unemployed in January.

The decrease in the number of jobseekers (-7.1% or -99 thousand) affected men, women and all age groups. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.1% (-0.4 points) and the youth unemployment rate to 18.9% (-1.9 points).

The growth in the number of inactive persons aged 15-64 (+0.3%, i.e. +35,000) reflects the increase among women and the decrease among men. The number of inactive persons rises among 15-24 year-olds, falls among 25-49 year-olds and remains substantially stable among those aged 50 and over. The inactivity rate rises to 33.9% (+0.1 points). Compared to the previous quarter, the number of people looking for work decreased (-8.4%, equal to -125 thousand units) and the number of inactive people aged 15-64 increased (+0.9%, equal to +116 thousand units).