ROME: Italy's unemployment rate edged down to 10.2% in February from 10.3% in January, data showed on Tuesday, with employment levels little changed during the month, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported.

A Reuters survey of analysts had forecast a lower February jobless rate of 9.0%.

However, ISTAT said it changed the methodology of its jobs survey from January, leading to marked revisions of previous months' data. The jobless rates for December and November were both revised upwards.

ISTAT issued data for February and January together on Tuesday. Its previous report, published on Feb 1, referred to December.

In the December-to-February period some 277,000 jobs were lost compared with the three months from September-to-November last year, ISTAT said, a fall of 1.2%.

The statistics institute said that since February 2020, when the coronavirus first started to batter Italy, some 945,000 jobs had been lost, a decline of 4.1% in the number of people in work.

ISTAT said that over the 12 months to February, the number of people looking for work rose by 21,000, or 0.9%.

In February, the youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, fell to 31.6% from 32.7% the month before.

Italy's overall employment rate, one of the lowest in the euro zone, edged up in February to 56.5% from 56.4%.

Highlighting the devastating impact of the coronavirus on the economy, Italy's gross domestic product shrank by 8.9% last year, its steepest post-war recession.

The government forecasts a partial rebound of around 4% this year.