Italy’s wage gap

According to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Italy workers are among the lowest paid in the developed world, only ahead of workers in Portugal, the Czech Republic, Poland, Turkey, Slovakia, Hungary and Mexico.Italy ranked 23 out of 30 for average net salaries in all categories studied: single workers, single-income households with two children and double-income households with two children. Average wages were calculated in dollars and adjusted according to the cost of living in each country. Single Italian workers without children take home an average of $21,374 a year compared to an OECD average of $25,751. Part of the reason for such low net salaries is Italy’s high tax rate, the study stated, estimating that a single worker without children earning an average salary relinquishes nearly 45 per cent of his gross wages to taxes and other deductions. Low salaries and the current economic situation have spurred many Italians to get second, even third jobs, to make ends meet, the Italian media reports, a trend recorded among both higher- and  lower-income workers in Italy.