The Italy that is an exception is not really a big news. It is therefore not surprising that in all European countries, except Italy, average annual wages have increased. Despite the pandemic that has had important effects on the world of work, creating more unemployment and exacerbating socio-economic inequalities even more. “According to the International Labor Organization, the pandemic has put workers to the test and worsened their living conditions all over the world. In Europe, too, many jobs have been lost and the number of hours worked on average has declined, especially in the low-paid professions. On average in 2020 the wage bill, by which we mean the total non-standardized gross wages, in fact decreased compared to the previous year », the experts of the Openpolis foundation wrote in a recent report. To be precise, 6.5% of wages were lost in Europe between before and after the pandemic. “The cause of this phenomenon was, in particular, the cut in working hours, while the problem of job loss was largely stemmed by safeguards at national level, which managed to contain the most negative effects. This in Italy has materialized with the blocking of layoffs, in force from February 2020 to the end of June 2021 », the experts write.

The wage loss was also limited thanks to state measures. In particular, the subsidies, implemented by most European countries, would have halved the impact of the crisis according to the ILO, bringing the actual loss to -3.1% (compared to the initial -6.5%).

The data

" In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the average annual salary of a Luxembourg citizen was double that of a Greek, and almost three times that of a Slovak - reads the Openpolis report - In general, to have average wages the highest are the countries of north-western Europe (Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark), while the lowest are the member states of central Europe (Slovakia and Hungary) and southern Europe (Greece and Portugal) ».

In particular, according to the OECD, average annual wages in some countries increased slightly between 2019 and 2020, including the Netherlands (+ 2.4%) or Slovenia (+ 2.3%). In others, however, such as France, Spain and Italy, there was a slight decline; 3.2% for France, 2.9% for Spain and even 5.9% for Italy.

The case of Italy

In all European OECD countries, the average annual wage has increased since 1990. In some cases, then in a very evident way. Except in Italy where instead there was a contraction. For example, Lithuania recorded an increase of 276.30% (first among European countries); Spain, on the other hand, a country in the tail among those that recorded an increase, rose by 6.20%. Finally, Italy where the average annual salary has instead decreased by 2.90%.

“Compared to both the countries of northern and western Europe and those of the former Soviet bloc, there has therefore been a substantial stagnation of wages in the southernmost European states. This phenomenon, however, was particularly evident in Italy - they write from Openpolis - Here the greatest increase in terms of remuneration was recorded in the years between 1995 and 2010, in which the average annual salary of about 37 thousand dollars to one of 42 thousand. An increase, however, very far from that of other European nations, if we consider that the average Irish salary, for example, passed in the same years from about 31 thousand to almost 50 thousand dollars ”.

While between 2012 and 2019 the variation was minimal, between 2019 and 2020 instead there was a real collapse that brought Italian wages even below the levels of 1990. "If at the beginning of the years 1990s Italy was the seventh European state immediately after Germany for average annual wages, in 2020 it dropped to thirteenth place, below countries such as France, Ireland, Sweden (which had lower wages in the 90s) and Spain In fact, the experts specify.

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