Rome, Sept. 3 (LaPresse) – “Short-term measures such as those concerning fuel excise duties are of little use, wages are too low and structural measures such as a minimum wage are needed.” Economist Tito Boeri said this in an interview with La Stampa. “The example of the excise duty cut illustrates the logic of recent years, with governments focused on short-term measures to contain temporary emergencies – warns the former president of INPS -. The increase in the price of oil should have been addressed by protecting the segments of the population most exposed and intervening on refining margins, which increased more than the price of oil. Instead, we spent billions extending, week after week, measures that also benefited those who did not need them.” “As for inflation,” he stressed, “the impact on workers has been devastating. Since the second half of 2021, we have experienced a surge that the collective bargaining system has failed to make up for. The purchasing power of wages has suffered a dramatic contraction. The blame does not lie with the exogenous event, but with political inertia in reforming an inefficient bargaining system. A necessary first step remains the introduction of a minimum wage indexed to inflation and the approval of a law on trade union representation.”
Fuel, Boeri: “Devastating price increases, now minimum wage tied to inflation”
Rome, Sept. 3 (LaPresse) – “Short-term measures such as those concerning fuel excise duties are of little use, wages are too low and structural measures such as a minimum wage are needed.” Economist Tito Boeri said this in an interview with La Stampa. “The example of the excise duty cut illustrates the logic of recent years, with governments focused on short-term measures to contain temporary emergencies – warns the former president of INPS -. The increase in the price of oil should have been addressed by protecting the segments of the population most exposed and intervening on refining margins, which increased more than the price of oil. Instead, we spent billions extending, week after week, measures that also benefited those who did not need them.” “As for inflation,” he stressed, “the impact on workers has been devastating. Since the second half of 2021, we have experienced a surge that the collective bargaining system has failed to make up for. The purchasing power of wages has suffered a dramatic contraction. The blame does not lie with the exogenous event, but with political inertia in reforming an inefficient bargaining system. A necessary first step remains the introduction of a minimum wage indexed to inflation and the approval of a law on trade union representation.”