In Italy an employee earns around 13 euros gross per hour, according to the latest available Eurostat data referring to 2022. Net of taxes and contributions, the figure generally reduces to around 8-10 euros net per hour, even if the value varies based on income, contract and individual tax situation. The Italian figure is lower than the European Union average of 14.91 euros gross per hour, and highlights how our country is placed in the medium-low part of the European wage ranking.
The Eurostat survey (Structure of Earnings Survey) examines companies with at least 10 employees active in all sectors of the economy, with the exception of agriculture and public administration/defense, and is therefore highly representative of employed work in the private sector.
The average hourly salary of an Italian
To compare salaries between different countries, Eurostat uses the median gross hourly wage, i.e. the wage that divides workers into two equal groups: half earn more than the median wage and the other half earn less. This is an indicator that is often more representative than the average, because it is less influenced by the presence of a few particularly high salaries.
In 2022 the median gross hourly wage in Italy was 13.05 euros, compared to a European average of 14.91 euros. In other words, the “typical” Italian worker receives an hourly wage that is approximately 12% lower than the EU average.
However, a more encouraging figure for the Bel Paese comes from the percentage of low-wage workers, defined by Eurostat as those who earn less than two-thirds of the national median hourly wage. In Italy this category represents only 8.8% of employees, one of the lowest percentages in the European Union.
Comparison with hourly wages in the rest of Europe
Wage differences between EU countries are very large. In 2022, the highest median hourly gross wages were recorded in Northern European and Western European countries:
- Denmark: 29.8 euros;
- Luxembourg: 24.0 euros;
- Belgium: 23.8 euros;
- Ireland: 20.3 euros;
- Germany: 19.4 euros;
- Finland and Sweden: 19.3 euros;
- Netherlands: 19.0 euros.
At the other end of the European ranking, the countries with the lowest median gross hourly wages are:
- Bulgaria: 4.1 euros;
- Romania: 5.6 euros;
- Hungary: 5.7 euros;
- Portugal: 6.2 euros;
- Croatia: 6.8 euros;
- Poland: 6.9 euros.
The gap is notable: Denmark’s median hourly wage is around 7.4 times higher than that of Bulgaria, the lowest recorded in the EU.
The percentage of low-wage workers also varies significantly from country to country. The highest percentages (which indicate the countries with the greatest diffusion of workers with very low wages) are recorded in:
- Bulgaria (26.8%);
- Romania (23.9%);
- Latvia (23.3%);
- Greece (21.7%);
- Estonia (21.2%);
- Cyprus (20.0%).
In contrast, the lowest shares of low-wage workers are observed in:
- Portugal (1.8%);
- Sweden (4.1%);
- Finland (6.5%);
- Italy (8.8%);
- Slovenia (9.4%);
- France and Denmark (9.7%).
These data tell us that Denmark represents the most virtuous European case, as it combines very high median wages with a low share of low-wage workers. Italy, together with other countries such as France and Slovenia, however, shows a different picture: median salaries are lower, but the spread of low-wage work remains relatively limited. This suggests that the Italian problem concerns above all the general level of wages rather than a strong concentration of workers in the lowest wage brackets.
