Salaries, in Italy you earn less than in 1990. Here's what it means

If real wages, i.e. wages compared to prices, have decreased in practically all EU countries, It's Italy that wears the black shirt. This is highlighted by the OECD ranking which is based on Eurostat data on average incomes of European Union member countries: in Italy, thirty years ago, people earned more than today.

Real wages on the Peninsula had already fallen by 2.9% from 1990 to 2020. But at the end of 2022, real wages on the Peninsula had still fallen by 7.5% compared to the pre-Covid period, compared to an OECD average of 2%. ,2%. This situation is due to price growth driven by high energy prices, which has significantly reduced the purchasing power of families, and at the same time as the failure to increase salaries. Real wage levels in Italy have remained virtually unchanged since 1991, with growth of just 1%.

The drop in wages was greatest for those earning the lowest wages: the decline between the first quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of this year reached 10.3% (against the OECD average of -3.5%). For average wages the decrease was 7.5%, and for the highest ones 6% (but still above the OECD averages, which are 3.8% and 4.8% respectively). The erosion of purchasing power, therefore, weighs especially on low-income families, who are less able to face the increase in prices through savings or debt.

Eight carts lost per year

According to research Poor families. The impact of inflation on Italians' incomescreated by the National Observatory of Incomes and Families in collaboration with Caf Acli and Iref, the average loss of monthly family income was 240 euros from 2019 to 2022. If we go into detail about the family type, the median loss varies between 317 euros per month for two-income families and 150 euros for single-income families.

If we express the loss of purchasing power in shopping carts for primary food goods (assuming that a shopping cart costs approximately 90 euros), two-income families lost approximately 8 trolleys per year (equal to 700 euros); separated/divorced people have six carts, just as 6 carts are lost by singles/de facto unions, up to 4 shopping carts lost by single-income families and widowers.

Double-digit inflation and the increase in the cost of money could not fail to also affect the interest on mortgages for the purchase of homes. In general, lThe average increase in interest on the mortgage for the purchase of homes was approximately 340 euros per year. However, if we only consider mortgages taken out from 2020 onwards, the increase in interest concerned 98% of borrowers and was on average over 1060 euros between 2020 and 2022.