Italy’s jobless rate reached a 36- year high in April as companies did not hire staff amid pessimism about the outlook of an economy that’s probably in its eighth quarter of recession. Joblessness rose to 12 per cent after the March reading was revised up to 11.9 per cent from an initial 11.5 per cent, the Rome-based national statistics office Istat said in a preliminary report today. The April rate was higher than the 11.6 per cent median of seven estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Unemployment remained above 10 per cent for a 15th month and reached the highest since the data series began in the first quarter of ... (full story)