Rome  - Tens of thousands of people gathered in Rome Saturday to protest what they say is the inadequate response to the country's economic woes by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Demonstrators set off through the city's streets on five separate marches organized by the country' largest labour union confederation, CGIL.

Participants included several political leaders including Dario Franceschini who heads the main centre-left opposition Democratic Party.

Italy's economy, Europe's fourth-largest, could contract by 4.3 per cent this year as exports are hit by the global economic downturn, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said this week.

Unemployment in Italy in the fourth quarter of 2008 rose to its highest level for over two years as the economic recession began to take a heavy toll on the labour market, according to data issued this week.

The seasonally-adjusted jobless rate rose to 6.9 percent from 6.7 percent in the previous three months, reaching its highest level since the second quarter of 2006, but analysts said the worst was still to come.

Some 1.73 million people are estimated to be out of out of work in Italy. (dpa)