I have always thought that a minimum wage in Italy was necessary. The minimum wage is one of those measures in which the state intervenes to protect citizens. The most avid capitalists don’t like it because they think the market should regulate itself, and often the more extremist ones don’t stop themselves from calling those who don’t think like them “communists”. I am not a communist, indeed I support the free market economy, but the minimum wage is one of those measures that I look at with great attention also because it often makes a difference, and in a country like ours I consider it of considerable importance. Why in a country like ours? Because Italy does not excel in terms of productivity when compared with other wealthier European countries, however our productivity, thanks to some territories that drive it, is not even as painful as is often thought, and despite this the Italians they are underpaid at the average and median levels. That said, there have always been issues that I didn’t know how they could be handled. If there was a minimum wage, would it also apply to trainees and apprentices? Since we have a low rate of graduates compared to the rest of European countries and it often happens that the salaries of a recent graduate and a recent high school graduate are the same, it would make sense to introduce a higher minimum wage for graduates to encourage more people to continue their studies. study and reward them for the additional years spent studying? And if we did, who would guarantee that new graduates don’t start to be snubbed and that people don’t prefer to hire people without a degree to pay them less? Then suddenly I came across the system of [Regno Unito](https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates) which, in my opinion, is done really well, because it is based on age. Now, basing it on age is not ideal and is not the pinnacle of meritocracy, because it is absolutely not a given that a younger person will produce less and perhaps what he lacks in experience he has in skill, innovation and resourcefulness. However, if you think about it, it makes sense: if above a certain age I start paying more, I guarantee that a new graduate at 22/24 will earn more than a graduate at 19, and that it will be worth doing those extra years of study. Yes, even the graduate would reach that salary after a while at that age, but in that case it would also be fair because in the meantime perhaps he has accumulated experience and it seems more fair. Having said that, I tried using proportions to calculate the minimum salary in Italy based on the British one. I found out that their current minimum salary is about 58.4% of theirs [Reddito Nazionale Lordo/Gross National Income](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CN?locations=GB) per capita dating back to the end of 2022. For those who don’t know, Gross National Income is a measure similar to Gross Domestic Product but much better, because the profits of foreign companies with headquarters on domestic soil, which often send profits to the country of headquarters, are removed, and the profits of local companies that have branches abroad and often import their profits made abroad are added . Simply put, it is an indicator that measures a nation’s total profits. If we divided this Gross National Income equally by the citizens of a country, we would have the Gross National Income per capita. And the UK coincidentally (I don’t think it’s intentional) has a current minimum wage, if we consider approximately 160 hours for 12 months, which is 58.4% of the gross national income per capita in 2022. Considering the [Reddito Nazionale Lordo Italiano](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CN?locations=IT) of 2022, if we did a simple calculation of proportions, we would obtain that if we wanted to introduce a minimum wage equal to the British one by doing the appropriate adjustments considering that we are less productive, we would have a minimum wage of €10.14 currently compared to the British one of £11.44 (€13.36 at the current exchange rate). Simply put, if the average Italian minimum wage were fairer, it would be €19,460 gross per year. Instead, given the great inequality and the many super rich people we have, it is our median that approaches this value, not our minimum. On the other hand, there is a reason why we are the [6° paese al mondo](https://forbes.it/2024/04/04/litalia-e-il-sesto-paese-al-mondo-con-piu-glioni/) by number of billionaires, despite being only the 9th/10th by total GDP and somewhere between the 20th and 30th by GDP per capita. We are the “Americans of Europe” but when it comes to social inequality, certainly not when it comes to innovation. NB: My calculations are very approximate and based on proportions, so there is margin for error. Furthermore, I am talking about the average Italian minimum wage, but there are some provinces that are more productive than average and perhaps deserve a higher minimum wage, while others are below average and therefore I don’t think they deserve that minimum wage. The fact is that there is no current minimum wage, and this does not help reduce inequalities as it could by increasing the wealth of the less rich and decreasing that of the super rich. What do you think?
https://old.reddit.com/r/italy/comments/1c36o5r/salario_minimo_inglese_e_quello_potenziale/
Posted by No_Thing_5680