Renting houses and few opportunities for children: the consequences of stagnating wages in Italia

And if in other countries second jobs can make the market more lively, this is not the case in Italia. Approximately one in four workers has more than one employer, but still receives lower incomes than stable workers, with an average gap of more than EUR 10,000 per year.

Something positive also emerges, but it is related to the stability of young people and not to their salaries. Nearly 60 per cent of those in precarious employment between the ages of 25 and 34 achieve greater stability over the period examined, although the percentage (16.7 per cent) of those who remain in 'precarious stability' remains high, with median incomes of around EUR 20,485.

We come to the consequences of a static labour market. The first concerns housing. Among those who live in rented accommodation the median income stops at 20,526 euro, about 23% less than among homeowners. Not only that: one out of four tenants has an intermittent or precarious contract, against just over 4% of the general population. Income fragility, therefore, is added to housing fragility.

The second concerns families and, in particular, spending on children. According to the report, 38% of families with children and at least one employee do not incur any deductible expenses for education or sports activities. The share increases significantly among the lowest income earners, where it reaches 66.5 per cent.

Let us come to current events, then. Because according to Emiliano Manfredonia, Acli national president, 'these data tell us that we need structural policies on work, not on precariousness as an exception to be managed, but on the dignity of work as a rule to be built. We need a vision, we need social housing, we need affordable rental contracts for those who are young, for those who are alone, for those who are precarious. A country's priorities are measured by where it decides to allocate resources. And the priorities of our Italia, right now, do not correspond to the needs that this report documents'.

Deputy Vice-President Raffaella Dispenza recalls the '30-year crisis of real wages in Italia, the only country that, as the OECD tells us, has seen a contraction of real wages in the last 30 years, unlike countries like France or Germany that have instead seen an increase of more than 30 per cent. A dramatic and absolutely unjustifiable gap for a country like ours'.

Finally, the scientific director of ASVIS, Enrico Giovannini, explains that 'increasing inequality is the cause of low economic growth. This means that transformative policies under the banner of equity and sustainability are needed. With this umpteenth, and predictable, energy crisis, Italia risks a new recession or, at best, stagnation, accompanied by a resurgence of inflation, which will hit low incomes the hardest'.