Real wage growth has stagnated in Italy. According to the OECD, average full-time real wages barely grew between 1990 and 2021. This dire performance prompted the then-governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, to advocate for the introduction of a statutory minimum wage, a move that's since been scuppered by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, despite pressure from the EU.

Part of the reluctance to legislate is down to the Italian constitution, which forbids collective bargaining to be regulated by law or decree. Instead, wage levels are generally set by collective agreements for each sector of the economy. Pay tends to be higher in Italy’s more industrialised north than its poorer south.

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