Interventi e misure di contrasto alla povertà lavorativa in Italia

A quarter of Italian workers have a low individual wage (i.e. below 60% of the median), and more than one in ten are in poverty (i.e. they live in a household with a net equivalent income below 60% of the median). In the public debate, in-work poverty is often linked to low wages whereas in-work poverty is the result of a process that goes far beyond wages, and concerns also work intensity, the household structure, and redistribution policies. A strategy to combat in-work poverty therefore requires multiple instruments to support workers’ wages, increase the number of income earners, and ensure a well-targeted redistributive system. In this contribution, after a discussion of the mechanisms that lead to situations of in-work poverty, we discuss four proposals to combat inwork poverty in Italy.