Average annual gross salary in Italy 2019, by region

The North Italian region of Lombardy had the highest gross salary in the country, while it was lowest in Sardinia. The annual average in Lombardy amounted to 31.4 thousand euros, 660 euros more than in Trentino-South Tyrol, as reported by Job Pricing. The Central region of Lazio ranked third, with an average gross salary of 30.5 thousand euros. The last positions of the raking are occupied by Southern regions. People in Basilicata, for examples, received the lowest wages in Italy, with an average of 24.3 thousand euros per year.

High wages and large pay gap

  According to the same source, employees working in banking and financial services had some of the largest salaries in Italy in 2018. However, men earned roughly 8.4 thousand euros more than women (46.1 thousand euros versus 37.6 thousand euros). This was the sector with the largest gender pay gap in Italy. Similarly, the annual gross salaries in the insurance industry added up to 38.9 thousand euros for men and to 32.3 thousand euros for women. In this sector, the gender pay gap amounted to 20.4 percent.

Low-wage workers

The South of Italy was also the place registering the highest percentage of low paid employees. These are employees with an hourly salary of less than two thirds of the median salary over the total number of employees. More specifically, in the South and on the Islands, the share of low-wage employees was equal to 17.4 percent. In the Northern regions the share amounted to 6.7 percent.