Italy's unemployment rate hit a record 9.2 percent in January compared to 8.9 percent in December, official data showed on Thursday, as the country grinds through a painful recession.
The rate is the highest since Italy began recording monthly employment data in January 2004, the Italian statistics agency Istat said in a statement.
The seasonally adjusted data showed the number of people looking for a job rose to 2.312 million people in January -- an increase of 2.8 percent over a month and 14.1 percent over a 12-month period.
The unemployment rate among young people aged between 15 and 24 also increased to 31.1 percent in January from 31 percent in December -- just under a record of 31.2 percent reached in November 2011.
Unemployment has been on the rise in Italy since last summer when the economy began shrinking under pressure from the sovereign debt crisis and the austerity measures put in place to combat it.
The economy contracted by 0.2 percent in the third quarter and by 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter, signalling the start of a recession that is expected to continue this year.
Prime Minister Mario Monti is planning an overhaul of the labour market by the end of March that he says would help lower unemployment.