ITALY / SALARY

Introduction

Italy is a country found in Southern Europe. It is a mediterranean country boarded by six countries named France, Austria, Vatican City, Slovenia, San Mario and Switzerland. The capital city is Rome which is popular for the ancient's ruins. How good is Italy's economy? Well, the country has the third largest economy in the European Union, 8th in terms of nominal GDP and 13th when it comes Purchasing power parity GDP. Italy uses the Euro currency for transactions.

GDP

Italy's nominal GDP in 2021 is $ 2.112 trillion hence being the 8th largest globally while the GDP for Purchasing power parity is $2.598 million thus being ranked as number thirteen in the world. The GDP growth has been okay however a major drop was experienced in the year 2020. The GDP growth for 2018 and 2019 was 0.8 % and 0.3% respectively. There was a huge drop in the year 2020 for 10.6 percent. The drop was mainly because of a lockdown of major economic activities. However, at the end of May 2020 Italy started to recover leading to a GDP increase of 5.2% in 2021. In 2017 the highest GDP per sector was services with 73.9% followed by Industry with 23.9 % and finally agriculture sector with 2.1 percent.

In the year 2021 the nominal GDP per capita is $35,061 making it the twenty-five largest globally while the GDP per capita for PPP is $43,139 thus being ranked as number twenty-nine globally.

Economic sector

The main sectors which have contributed to the high economic growth are the primary, secondary and tertiary industries.

Our main focus on the primary sector is agriculture. Italy has large farms where they have mainly invested in vineyards, citrus orchards, pastures and horticulture. 

The secondary sector consists of manufacturing industries. The north west region has industries which deal with machinery, aerospace and machinery production while the northern East has SMEs which specialise in the following areas.

·       Clothing and footwear

·       Textiles

·       Furniture

·       Jewelry

·       Home appliances

·       Spare parts

·       Tertiary

Around 68.6% of Italy's population is employed by the tertiary sector. The service sector contributes to around 73.9% of Italy's GDP. Some of the major tertiary industries in Italy include financial services, retail trade, Telcom, tourism and the transport system.

Employment Sector

1.    Employment

In 2021 the employment for Italy is at 56.6 percent Approximately 22.3 million people are employed. The employment rate in Italy is measured by the number of people who have jobs over the working age population. The service sector has employed the largest workforce, the second is industries and the agricultural sector has the lowest number of employees. The average gross salary in 2019 was $2,740 monthly which is 2,446 Euros.

2.    Unemployment.

The unemployment rate in 2020 is 9%. The highest number of the unemployed people are the youths. The Italian National Institutes of statistics shows that in 2021 the number of unemployed people is about 2.5 million.

Exports and Imports

In 2019 Italy exports were approximately $687.3 billion. Italy is the second largest exporter globally. The main commodities that Italy exports include pharmaceuticals, furniture, clothings, robots, machinery and vehicles. Due to the production in high quantities Italy can easily export the surplus production. The main export partners for Italy based from the highest to the lowest exports are as follows, Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

In 2019 Italy imports were $647.1 billion. The main products that Italy imports include Foods, beverages, tobacco, chemical, transport equipment and engineering products. The main import partners include Belgium, Spain, China, Netherlands, France and Germany.

Inflation

Italy inflation has gradually decreased over the years; the inflation CPI for 2018, 2019 and 2020 were 12.2%,0.6% and 0.1 % respectively. According to Statista research Department data Italy inflation rate is expected to increase by 1,4 percent. The main reasons for the increase are mainly due to increase in the oil prices.

Net wealth

The total net wealth of Italy is $ 11.857 trillion. That makes Italy the fifth largest worldwide. We also find that more than 1.4 million of Italy's population have a net worth that is greater than one million. The wealthiest person in Italy is Maria Franca Fissolo Ferrero and family who are also ranked as number twenty-nine globally. The family runs the food sector and based on an article published by Forbes the total net worth is approximately 22.4 billion US Dollars. Over the years Italy's net wealth per household has increased and forecast shows that it will continue to increase in the coming years.

Poverty

The highest poverty level in Italy was in 2015. The level of poverty during that period was at 7.6 percent. There was a one percent increase in southern Italy, the poverty level where the poverty rate for 2014 and 2015 was 9 percent and 10 percent respectively. However Northern Italy was pretty better but still recorded an increase. The poverty rate for that region for the two years was 6.7 percent and 5.7 percent. The poverty rate is increasing over the years due to unemployment. We find that those people who are employed in factories still suffer and it gets worse for the youths as the level of unemployment is around forty percent.

Conclusion

Italy has a huge economic growth thus being ranked as the third largest in the European Union. The country has a high-income economy and a developed economy. The main sector which has led to a massive economic growth is the service sector which has the highest workforce and has the largest increment of Italy GDP.