In order to produce short-term wage statistics, Istat carries out the following surveys: a monthly survey on contractual wages and salaries, a quarterly survey on gross wages and salaries and a monthly survey on labour indicators in large firms in industry and services.
Through these surveys Istat produces several indicators which refer to different concepts:
- contractual wages and salaries
- gross wages and salaries
- labour costs
Contractual wages define gross wages as established under national collective labour agreements, gross of taxes and social security contributions.
In addition to contractual amounts, gross wages and salaries include other ongoing and occasional continuative items gross of taxation and social security contributions. In other words gross wages and salaries include additional contractually agreed amounts, bonuses, overtime payments, etc.
Labour cost is comprised by the sum of gross wages and salaries and social security contributions borne by the employer.
To complete information about contractual wages, every month Istat disseminates a number of indicators that make it possible to analyse how the system of industrial relations is developing, particularly with regard to contractual tension, i.e. the speed with which expiration times of collective agreements are respected.