In Milan, the economic capital of Italy, as in Rome, wages and rentals evolve in the opposite direction, so that young people are increasingly the feeling that their standard of living falls. This is the case of Stefano. When moving to Milan after university and computer programming training, the 26 -year -old man thought of finding better salaries in Rome, his hometown. It is disappointed: 1,500 euros net per month for its first place, only 2,000 euros, when it changes businesses, a salary that places it in 10% higher in Italy.
For the sake of preventing any impact on your career, a fortiori Because Italy has continued to be “a country where money is taboo,” Stefano asked, like the other seven people interviewed by AFP, that his first name will be modified. In Milan, the most expensive city in the country, Stefano does not happen with his rent that nibbles half of his salary. “Especially when my owner increased by 30% at a time” when the post-cave inflation wave and the increase in interest rates.
A phenomenon was generalized in the city. In total, rentals in Milan took 20% between January 2020 and January 2025, according to the popular rental site in Idealist Italy, and even 40% in Rome. And salaries have not followed, Italy is the OECD country, which has affected the least affected inflation. The Italians lost almost 7.5% of their real salary between 2021 and 2024, almost the equivalent of the salary of one month per year.
Lower salaries than elsewhere
Like a million Italians who have left abroad since 2013, Stefano decided two months ago to emigrate to Belgium. “The amount of my careers remained the same, but my salary doubled in Wallonia,” says the young man who says he has “intention to return” to his country. Davide, 27 years -old Milanese with five years of IT experiences in less than 2,200 euros net per month. “I know I can never offer me a house or in Milan or in Rome.”
With salaries in the average of those of Romania, and lower than those of Lithuania or Slovenia neighboring, Italy is detonated compared to the comparable developed economies. According to the OECD, real wages have returned since 1991; In France and Germany, they won more than 30%. Among the reasons often advanced: productivity that increases little due to companies that are too small and present in sectors with low added value, such as construction and tourism, often described as “Italy oil.”
“On the size of the companies, many standards still discourage the groups, specify Andrea Garnero, economist of the OECD and co -author of” The Salary Question “(” The Salary Question “) There is also a training problem. Graduates are very few and investments in research too weak. It emits half less patents in Italy than in Germany.
Young workers are particularly suffering. “30 years ago, they had a little more income than retirees, today, when they are more educated, they earn 13% less,” says Andrea Garnero.
“It’s almost impossible in Italy”
After two teachers, Salvatore wins 2,300 euros net per month in finance. “Living decently with Milan rentals and taxes, 3,000 euros would be needed: it is almost impossible in Italy,” he judges the thirties, because the wages are very full and the high rare wages, even for the diploma. Andrea Garnero asks: “How with this situation, there are no massive social movements? It is probably largely due to domestic transfers, especially in real estate, which compensate for low wages.”
“There is no minimum wage nationwide in Italy, but where the country stands out, it is especially that there are really few high salaries, because there are few management positions and are less paid than in other places, explains Andrea Garnero. Less than 10% of employees earn more than 40,000 euros per year (around 2,200 monthly networks, note). Retire).
For the economist, “many live in great family apartments being satisfied with a salary that would allow them to live in 10 m² in other places.” “But that gives the narration that it is better to make a living praising the apartment in the center on Airbnb in the center that I led to instead of working,” he says. In Rome, the precious key boxes of the Airbnb owners swarm, despite the municipality’s operations. According to Airbnb figures, 4.5% of goods in the Historic Center of Rome are dedicated to short -term rental, 0.5% throughout the metropolis.
The municipalities, Rome the first, ask for more power powers. But the problem is wider than Airbnb: housing construction was at a historically low level in 2023, half less than in 2010, in a country where the vast majority of homes (93%) date from before 2001, according to Istat.
Source: BFM TV
