The minimum wage and average salary in Italy in 2025

As one of the biggest European economies, Italy is a popular country for expats to move to. It has several thriving industries, including tourism, hospitality, and car manufacturing, with strong labor laws protecting workers.

So, what will you be earning once you move there?

Here’s what you need to know about wages and salaries in Italy:

What is the minimum wage in Italy in 2025?

Italy is one of only six countries in the European Union (EU) without a statutory minimum wage. While the Constitution includes workers’ rights to a liveable wage for them and their families (sect. 36), the details of this have never been set out in law.

Instead, national collective agreements (contrattazione collettiva nazionale di lavoro – CCNL) protect around 95% of workers in Italy across many industries. However, this doesn’t cover all sectors, and not all of these agreements include salaries. Because of this, Italy has one of the highest proportions of the ‘working poor’ in the EU.

There have been moves by some political parties in Italy to introduce a minimum wage (salario minimo) in line with EU standards. A minimum wage bill was put forward in parliament in 2019, looking to set a national minimum of around €9/hour, but this has yet to succeed. Separate research has suggested a minimum wage in Italy of between €8.25–9.65/hour (2021).

The current Italian wage rates, protected by collective bargaining, are adjusted annually according to inflation and are usually renegotiated every few years. You can check the details of existing agreements here (in Italian).

Similar to wages, employers also set minimum annual leave in Italy through a collective bargaining process. The current minimum for most sectors is four weeks per year. However, the country follows the EU law stipulation to set the maximum number of hours in a working week (48).

What is the average salary in Italy?

According to Eurostat, the average gross salary in 2023 Italy was around €32,750 per year (roughly €2,729 per month). Meanwhile, Salary Explorer reports that the average salary in 2024 is more like €43,900 per year (i.e., €3,660 per month).

Salaries are slightly below the OECD average, with Italians earning around US$48,900 compared to US$58,200 elsewhere).

Regarding net incomes, OECD data shows that the average Italian household has US$29,431 (€27,399) disposable income per year after taxes and living expenses. Again, this is slightly below the OECD average of US$30,490 (€28,385).

Average salary by sector in Italy

Salaries in Italy vary between job sectors as well as within industries. The most recent earnings report (2020) by Istat shows that average gross wages plus social contributions are highest in industrial sectors (€44,176) and lowest in construction (€37,568). However, on average, employees work more hours in industrial jobs than in the service sector.

According to the Talent (2025), median salary across some of the main job sectors in Italy are:

Job sector	Average monthly salary
Accounting and finance	€2,398
Childcare	€2,739
Construction	€2,211
Engineering	€2,529
Healthcare and social services	€2,927
Hotel and tourism	€4,876
IT	€2,728
Journalism and translation services	€5,049
Retail	€2,111
Teaching	€3,236

Average salary by region in Italy

There have long been regional disparities in earnings in Italy, with those in the south of the country earning less.

According to 2022 Istat figures, the average net annual household income is:

• €39,240 in the Northwest
• €41,224 in the Northeast
• €37,259 in the center
• €29,451 in the South
• €28,511 on the islands

Istat suggests that Italy’s highest-paying jobs can be found in Bolzano (€45,931 annual net household income) and the lowest in Campania (€26,603). Meanwhile, Statista (2023) reports that workers in Lombardy had the highest mean gross salary, whereas those in Basilicata earned the lowest average wages nationwide.

Highest paying jobs in Italy

Unfortunately, there’s no real fast way to earn lots of money. Some of Italy’s most lucrative job opportunities require specialized qualifications, skills, and experience.

The highest-paying jobs in the country include (2024):

Job	Average monthly salary
Surgeon/doctor	€13,600
Judge	€11,400
Lawyer	€9,230
Bank manager	€8,690
CEO	€8,140
CFO	€7,600
Orthodontist	€7,330
College professor	€6,510
Pilot	€5,430
Marketing director	€4,890

Salary checker in Italy

There are many salary checker websites, for example, Glassdoor, where you can check what salary you are likely to earn and compare it to other wages.

The gender pay gap in Italy

In 2022, women earned an average hourly rate of €15.90, while men made €16.80 (Istat). This would mean a gender pay gap of roughly 5.4%. The gap is more marked among graduates (16.6%) and among managers (30.8%).

Despite Italy’s maschilismo culture, however, the country’s gender pay gap is lower than the EU average (12.7% in 2021). In fact, Italy ranks 4^th among all member states, behind Luxembourg, Romania, and Slovenia.

Meanwhile, when it comes to women’s rights and gender equality, the country ranks 87^th on the WEF 2024 Global Gender Gap Report. The survey finds that women make up 42.6% of company boards in Italy. Only 15.3% of businesses have female top managers.

Problems include the persistence of gender stereotypes regarding financial provision, with many still seeing the woman’s role as a housewife and caregiver rather than an economic provider. These attitudes are more prevalent in the south of the country.

Fortunately, there is an indication of progress. Italy ranks 16^th on the 2022 Glass Ceiling Index, just above the OECD average. The government also introduced an equal pay law in 2022 aimed at fixing any unexplained discrepancies.

Salaries and wages for expats in Italy

Italy has around 2.4 million foreign workers, around 10.3% of the total workforce. The distribution of international workers is spread across sectors and job levels.

According to the Italian government’s latest annual report on foreigners in the labor market (2023), just over 75% of expats are employed as workers. Only 1% work as managers or executives.

Foreign workers tend to have low-skilled jobs with low wages and temporary contracts. Indeed, most expats are overqualified for the jobs they have. Around 60.2% of non-EU citizens and 42% of EU nationals have formal skills that are superior to those required for their work.

Sectors with the highest percentages of expat workers are:

• Collective and personal services: 34.3%
• Agriculture: 18%
• Construction: 15.5%
• Hotels and restaurants: 15.3%

However, not all is bad news. Roughly 33% of foreigners find employment within three months of moving to Italy. Just 22% take between three to six months to find work.

What to do if your salary is too low?

Although most workers in Italy have their wages protected by collective agreements, this doesn’t always happen in practice. As such, an estimated 10% of workers in wage-protected sectors are paid around 20% less than the agreed minimums.

If your wage is below the agreed minimum wage for your sector, or you feel you are not sufficiently paid for your work, you should first speak to your employer. If you are still unhappy with the outcome, you should talk to a trade union (sindacato) representative or your local public labor office (centri per l’impiego).

The biggest labor unions in Italy are:

• Italian General Confederation of Labor (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro – CGIL)
• The Italian Confederation of Trade Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori – CISL)
• Italian Labor Union (Unione Italiana del Lavoro – UIL)

The next step is to take your employer to a labor court (tribunale del lavoro). These courts operate within Italy’s civil court (corte civile) structure, which you can access for various employment disputes. You may need to get legal help for this. If the judge rules in your favor, the employer must set your wage at an amount fixed by the judge. In addition, the employer may have to pay a fine, damages, and/or legal costs.

If the labor court rules against you, you can take the case to the Court of Appeal (Corte d’Appello) and, eventually, the Supreme Court (Corte Suprema di Cassazione). However, bear in mind that this can be an expensive process if you lose. Because of this, it’s advisable to seek sound legal advice from an employment law specialist in Italy.

Useful resources

• Ministry of Labor and Social Policies (Ministero del lavoro e delle politiche sociali) – government ministry in charge of labor policy in Italy
• National Agency for Active Labor Policies (Agenzia Nazionale per le Politiche Attive del Lavoro – ANPAL) – government agency, part of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies