Italy just above the 'relegation zone' between 34 countries in the OECD area regarding the data of real wages. Our country remains in 20th position although the OECD has registered a increase in average wages between 2013 and 2014. Indeed, last year the Italian average annual salary was amounting to $35.442, almost a thousand euros more than the 34.561 dollars in 2013.
However, Italy remains well below the average real wage in the OECD area which last year was equal to 46.533 euros. Italy, bringing up the rear among the big names, including Spain. At the top of the ranking are the United States with $60.779, followed by Luxembourg with $60.607. Germany is $44.007, France is $40.917, the average wage in Spain is $38.386. The unit cost of labor in Italy increased by 1,2%, again last year, against the average decrease of 0,1% in the OECD area.
OECD: SHY GROWTH IN ITALY
The Paris-based organization also provided data on the GDP and unemployment of the 34 countries. As for theItaly, according to the OECD, this year and next the growth will remain timid. The OECD indicates one growth of 0,6% in 2015 and 1,5% in 2016, “in both cases below the growth forecast for the Eurozone and for the entire Eurozone”.
OECD DATA ON UNEMPLOYMENT IN ITALY
On the unemployment front. OECD notes that in Italy, after the peak of 13% in November 2014, this year it will settle at 12,4%. According to the OECD, to see the unemployment rate fall below 12% we will have to wait for the last quarter of next year. In its Employment outlook, the OECD reports the growth in the incidence of long-term unemployment: in 2014, 61,5% of those without work had been out of work for at least 12 months, against 56,9% in 2013. The youth unemployment rate which reached 42,7%, more than double compared to 2007, when it stopped at 20,4%.
OECD: PRECARIOUS INCREASE. OK THE JOBS ACT
But among young people who have a job often have to settle for precarious contracts. According to OECD data, the percentage of workers under 25 with precarious contracts rose from 52,7% in 2013 to 56% in 2014. In 2007 it was 42,2%, in 2000 only 26,6%. OECD the Jobs Act, which entered into force a few months ago, represents "an important step forward towards the reduction of long-term inequalities and the elimination of segmentation" of the Italian labor market by increasing the incentives for the creation of permanent jobs with the new contract with increasing protections.
