Labour, real contractual wages recovered in March but still 8% lower than January 2021

With the impetus of the contractual renewals, in Q1 2025 wages are growing on 2024, confirming the tendency to make up lost ground especially in the private sector, and more modestly in the public sector. In real terms, after the loss of purchasing power that occurred in 2022-2023 - a two-year period characterised by a high level of inflation -, real contractual wages in March 2025 are still about 8% lower than in January 2021: industry and agriculture are doing better, while the gap is more noticeable in private services and public administration.

Looking at the quarter, the average hourly wage in the period January-March 2025 increased by 3.9% compared to the same period in 2024. Specifically, the hourly contractual wage index in March 2025, according to ISTAT's findings, increased by 0.4% compared to the previous month and by 4% compared to March 2024; the trend increase, i.e. over March 2024, was 4.9% for industrial employees, 4.3% for private service employees and 1.7% for public administration employees.

The sectors with the highest tendential increases were food (+7.8%), metalworking (+6.3%) and trade (+6.1%). In contrast, there was no increase for private pharmacies, telecommunications, regions and local authorities and the national health service.

The hourly contractual wage index for the whole economy at the end of March shows an increase of 2.6 % in the six-month period April-September 2025 and 2.7 % on average in 2025.

At the end of March, there were 35 contracts awaiting renewal between the public and private sectors and involving about 6.2 million employees, 47.3% of the total, a figure that is down on the previous month (48.5%), but up on March 2024 (34.9%). The 40 national collective agreements in force for the economic part concern 52.7% of employees - about 6.9 million - and correspond to 50.7% of the total payroll.