IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v29y2023i2p253-259.html

Round Table. Implementing the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in southern Europe: the odd case of Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Giovanni Orlandini

    (Università di Siena, Italy)

  • Guglielmo Meardi

    (Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy)

Abstract

Southern European countries, with their apparently high degree of collective bargaining centralisation and state regulations, may seem to be little affected by the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages. This article looks at the case of Italy, the EU country generally reported to have the highest collective bargaining coverage in Europe, to show how the situation on the ground is more problematic than conventional indicators suggest. Not only does Italy lack a national minimum wage and a legal framework for collective bargaining extension, but its apparent high level of collective bargaining coverage is vulnerable to wage dumping practices. The article identifies the weaknesses of the Italian system and proposes some possible lines of reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Orlandini & Guglielmo Meardi, 2023. "Round Table. Implementing the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages in southern Europe: the odd case of Italy," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 29(2), pages 253-259, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:29:y:2023:i:2:p:253-259
    DOI: 10.1177/10242589231175259
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10242589231175259
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10242589231175259?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giuseppe Antonio Recchia, 2017. "The future of collective bargaining in Italy between legislative reforms and social partners’ responses," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 23(4), pages 457-473, November.
    2. Claudio Lucifora & Daria Vigani, 2021. "Losing Control? Unions’ Representativeness, Pirate Collective Agreements, and Wages," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 188-218, April.
    3. Guglielmo Meardi, 2018. "Economic Integration and State Responses: Change in European Industrial Relations since Maastricht," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 631-655, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dobbins, Tony & Johnstone, Stewart & Kahancová, Marta & Lamare, J. Ryan & Wilkinson, Adrian, 2023. "Comparative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on work and employment—Why industrial relations institutions matter," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125303, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Bustos, Emil, 2024. "Collectively Bargained Wages and Female Earnings: Evidence from Swedish Local Governments," Working Paper Series 1494, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    3. Effrosyni Adamopoulou & Ernesto Villanueva, 2020. "Wage Determination and the Bite of Collective Contracts in Italy and Spain: Evidence From the Metalworking Industry," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2020_176, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    4. Mikkel Mailand, 2024. "Still part of the game—corporatism and political exchanges in two small states," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 368-388, July.
    5. Chiara Punzo & Giulia Rivolta, 2022. "Money versus debt financed regime: Evidence from an estimated DSGE model," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def120, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    6. Russell Davidson & Andrea Monticini, 2023. "Bootstrap Performance with Heteroskedasticity," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def130, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    7. Irene Torrini & Claudio Lucifora & Antonio Russo, 2022. "The Long-Term Effects of Hospitalization on Health Care Expenditures: An Empirical Analysis for the Young-Old Population," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def117, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    8. Wike Been & Paul de Beer, 2022. "Combatting exploitation of migrant temporary agency workers through sectoral self-regulation in the UK and the Netherlands," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(2), pages 175-191, June.
    9. Francesconi, Marco & Sonedda, Daniela, 2024. "Does Weaker Employment Protection Lower the Cost of Job Loss?," IZA Discussion Papers 17374, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. John Geary & Andrea Signoretti, 2022. "The role of socio-economic embeddedness in promoting cooperation in the workplace: Evidence from family-owned Italian firms," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(4), pages 1867-1890, November.
    11. Checchi, Daniele & Fenizia, Alessandra & Lucifora, Claudio, 2021. "Public Sector Jobs: Working in the Public Sector in Europe and the US," IZA Discussion Papers 14514, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Elena Cottini & Lorena Popescu & Luca Salmasi & Gilberto Turati, 2025. "Poisoned Air, Shortened Lives: PM2.5 Exposure and Premature Mortality in Southern European Cities," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def143, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    13. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Villanueva, Ernesto, 2022. "Wage determination and the bite of collective contracts in Italy and Spain," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Michel Goyer & Miguel Glatzer & Rocio Valdivielso del Real, 2022. "The management of the Eurozone in crisis times: Actors, institutions and the case of bailout packages," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 28(1), pages 7-25, March.
    15. Saskia Boumans, 2024. "Employer Discretion: The Role of Collective Agreements in the Liberalization of Industrial Relations," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(2), pages 227-250, March.
    16. Francesco Devicienti & Bernardo Fanfani, 2025. "Firms' margins of adjustment to wage growth: the case of Italian collective bargaining," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(365), pages 107-149, January.
    17. Tony Dobbins & Stewart Johnstone & Marta Kahancová & J. Ryan Lamare & Adrian Wilkinson, 2023. "Comparative impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on work and employment—Why industrial relations institutions matter," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 115-125, April.
    18. Monika Martišková & Marta Kahancová & Jakub Kostolný, 2021. "Negotiating wage (in)equality: changing union strategies in high-wage and low-wage sectors in Czechia and Slovakia," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 27(1), pages 75-96, February.
    19. Vincenzo Maccarrone, 2024. "The Europeanization of Wage Policy and Its Consequences for Labor Politics: The Case of Ireland," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 77(5), pages 716-741, October.
    20. Valentina Colombo & Alessia Paccagnini, 2024. "Uncertainty and the Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet Monetary Policy," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def131, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:29:y:2023:i:2:p:253-259. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.