Last month I blogged on Working in Italy: what you can expect to earn. In response, Emma, of the blog Life, Lavoro and Luca, pointed out one of the reasons wages are so low is because of the problem of working in nero. In other words, illegally or under the table.
No matter how much you object to it, there's no getting away from it. And if I were to count everyone I know who is paid in nero in some way, then I'd be using not just my fingers but toes, too.
There's working in nero outright: ie, all your earnings are paid in cash meaning, officially, you don't work. Or, more commonly, employees receive a low busta paga (wage slip) with the extra made up in cash. This is a win-win situation when it comes to paying lower taxes. But it's not so great when you want to apply for a mortgage and the bank gives you a lower amount than you actually want because your earnings don't add up. It also means that you can be fired whenever the entrepreneur is fed up of you because you don't have a contract.
The big corporations play by the rules but the small and medium sized companies tend to bend them more than slightly. But when you don't want to move away from your home town and you are desperate for a job there, you'll take anything. Employers know that and use it to their advantage.
But as Emma points out, it makes for a situation where those who have to pay taxes have to pay more to compensate for those who don't.
Il Bel Paese? Only on the surface. When you scratch the shiny veneer of gelato and pizza and evening passeggiatas, it's a lot more gritty and a lot more real.
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