The funds include tax breaks for companies that hire people aged¹ 18-29, and will target the country's deprived southern areas.

 

Two in five young Italians are out of a job, while the national unemployment rate is about 12%.

 

The measures were unveiled on the eve of a European Union summit in Brussels on youth joblessness.

 

Prime Minister Enrico Letta said that the money aimed to get at least 200,000 young Italians into the workforce² by aiding those with temporary contracts as well as boosting training and school-leaver schemes. 

 

 

In addition to the measures to boost youth employment, the Italian government also said it would delay a planned rise in value-added-tax (VAT³), which will cost it an additional 1bn euros. 

 

Mr Letta's predecessor⁴, Mario Monti, had announced the VAT increase in 2011 in an attempt to improve investor⁵ confidence in the government's capability⁶ to repay its debts.

 

The proposed VAT freeze must be approved by parliament first.

 

"These are all measures that will help consumer spending in the short term... and a bridge to economic recovery," said Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni, adding that Italy was "fully⁷ committed" to keeping the government deficit⁸ below 3% of GDP this year, as required under EU rules. 

 

Italy's economy shrank by a worse-than-expected 0.6% in the first quarter of this year. 

 

Across Europe, 5.6 million young people are out of work, with a jobless rate of 23%. In Greece and Spain, the rate of youth unemployment is around 50%.

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