Italy faces declining real wages despite rising employment

Italy is experiencing a complex economic trend where employment growth is decoupled from wage increases. While the number of employed individuals has risen, real wages have seen a significant decline, dropping between 7% and 12% depending on the period analyzed. This phenomenon is driven by a structural shift toward labor-intensive sectors with low added value, such as tourism, catering, personal services, and logistics.

This shift contributes to a modern form of proletarianization, where increased employment does not translate into increased wealth per worker. Furthermore, even in traditional industrial sectors, real wages have struggled to recover from inflationary shocks, performing worse than in neighboring countries like France and Germany. The situation reflects a long-term decline in the share of wages within the national economy, linked to neoliberal trends and a weakening of organized labor's influence.