Italy is in twelfth place in the EU wage ranking, well below the Eurozone average, but slightly above that of the EU27 as a whole.
According to Istat, Italy's gross hourly wage in October 2010, expressed without taking into account purchasing power, is approximately 14,6% lower than that of Germany, 13% lower than that of the United Kingdom and 11% compared to France. On the other hand, it is 25,9% higher than the Spanish average. Italy, with 14,5 euros, ranks lower than the average of the Monetary Union (15,2 euros), but is higher than that of the entire EU (14 euros).
The highest values are recorded in Denmark (27,09 euros), Ireland (22,23 euros) and Luxembourg (21,95 euros). The lowest ones are in Bulgaria (2,04 euros), Romania (2,67 euros), Latvia and Lithuania (3,78 euros and 3,44 euros respectively).
