In Italy The salaries of workers have increased, but they haven’t grown up enough compared to the wild ride of the inflation. This is the alarming fact for Italian workers that emerges from the annual report of the Parliamentary Budget Office, which also underlines that the adjustment of public accounts which the country is called upon to comply with the EU budget rules is strongly affected by theincrease in public spending due to the Covid emergency of recent years and the interventions implemented to curb, at least in part, the effects on inflation. The purchasing power of Italians is, therefore, increasingly less strong, with the salaries they have lost value in real termsi.e. taking into account the price run.
Salaries in Italy do not grow as fast as inflation
As emerges very clearly from the study of the data in the annual report of the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is the body controlling public accounts, the salaries of workers in Italy have increased in absolute value, but the hoped-for impact was not that of increasing citizens’ purchasing power, given that thenflationand ran at a faster speed.
Italian salaries, lower than the Eurozone average
The analysis takes place over the last few ten years, period in which the growth in workers’ wages there has been, but the increase in the cost of living has nibbled away at the value in real terms. The result is that with the money you have in your pocket you are no longer able to buy the same things you could buy in the past with that given amount.
It is also interesting to note that, always taking into account the high cost of livingthe per capita incomes of Italian workers have been decreasing over the last 10 years, with Italian salaries having lower than the Eurozone averageto.
State aid weighs on public finances
In its report, the Parliamentary Budget Office also talks about the huge amounts state aid that Italy has implemented in recent years to try to contain theinflation and recover from the health emergency. These measures include the easing of electricity and gas bills for families and businesses, the discount for filling up at the petrol station or the increase in pensions.
By the public accounts control body’s own admission, it is difficult to understand how these interventions have affected the loss of purchasing power of Italian workers. The data, however, suggests the burdensome extent of state aid: in two-year period 2022 – 2023 a total of just over were distributed 100 billion euros. Is this a low figure or too high? It’s impossible to say, but what is certain is that, as reported by the report, these interventions have allowed the economy to maintain and recover, even if there are quite a few recorded cases of assignments to individuals who had no right or real need for them.
Italian public debt remains high
The huge ones state aid aimed at containing inflation and limiting its negative effects Italy have led the country to increase its own even further public debt. The measures of recent years, therefore, now impose on the government the need to recalibrate the accounts, avoiding waste and cutting expenses where possible in the near future.
