Work, the Milanese are the best paid Rieti bringing up the rear: lighter paychecks in 22 out of 107 provinces

The Milanese (employees) are the best paid in Italy, with an average salary two and a half times higher than the national average. Pay slips are instead lighter in 22 out of 107 provinces between 2019 and 2021. In these areas, an employee lost an average of 312 euros in the three-year period, compared to a national growth of around 301. The salary map is drawn up by the Tagliacarne Study Center on the basis of provincial calculations on the items that make up disposable income at current prices. The regional differences are significant. Wages plus. Lean goods of over a thousand euros each are registered in Venice, Florence and Prato. While top growth is seen in Milan (+1,908 euros), Parma (+1,425) and Savona (+1,282). Under the Madonnina the employees are also the best paid in Italy, with an average salary of 30,464 euros in 2021, two and a half times the national average of 12,473 euros and nine times higher than that of Rieti, bringing up the rear in the pay ranking. However, in the Lombard capital, income from employment represents over 90% of disposable income against 23.9% in Rieti and 63.1% of the national average. “The analysis shows that the geography of wages is territorially diversified, and in various respects does not respect the traditional North-South dichotomy”, underlines Gaetano Fausto Esposito, general manager of the Tagliacarne Study Center. «If we compare the per capita GDP ranking (which measures the production of wealth) with that of wages – he adds – we see that in the first case practically all the last thirty positions are the prerogative of southern provinces (with the sole exception of Rieti), while in that of per capita wages we find as many as 10 provinces of the Centre-North, which leads us to reflect on income policies at the local level». But if Milan is the first Italian province for per capita value of wages, Savona (+14.3%), Oristano (+11.8%) and South Sardinia (+11.2%) show the greatest increases in wages. Between 2019 and 2021, the weight in per capita terms of employee income on total disposable income remained stable at around 63%. But in 42 out of 107 provinces, of which only six are in the South, it increased from 68.7% in 2019 to 69.7% in 2021. Overall, the impact of wages on disposable income is more marked in cities metropolitan areas (71.3%) less in the provinces (57.6%). At the two extremes of this gap, as we have seen, are Rieti with 23.9% and Milan with 90.7%. So much so that, the study center notes, “if we drew up a ranking of disposable income net of income from employment, the Lombard capital would plummet to last place in the standings with just 3,131 euros each”.