{"id":6238,"date":"2022-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portale-collaudo-app-swap-hud7fvd3dgesgzaa.westeurope-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/stirpe-a-la-stampa-con-rialzo-del-costo-del-lavoro-senza-aumenti-di-produttivita-rischio-circuito-tagliare-il-cuneo-fiscale\/"},"modified":"2025-05-06T18:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:01:56","slug":"stirpe-to-the-press-with-labour-cost-increases-without-productivity-gains-circuit-risk-cutting-the-tax-wedge","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/news\/stirpe-to-the-press-with-labour-cost-increases-without-productivity-gains-circuit-risk-cutting-the-tax-wedge\/","title":{"rendered":"Stirpe in La Stampa: rising labour costs without productivity increases circuit risk. Cut the tax wedge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\"<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">The business world is under great pressure at the moment due to various factors ranging from shortages and rising prices of raw materials, to expensive energy, to a significant rise in financial costs for newly taken out mortgages caused by rising interest rates. In this context, <\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">increase<\/span><\/b><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> labour costs without a corresponding increase in productivity, risks creating a short-circuit<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> which could have important and possibly even irreversible consequences for certain production sectors<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">. <\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">The problem must be addressed through the use of targeted tools.\" <\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">So The Vice President for Labour and Industrial Relations <b>Maurizio Stirpe<\/b> in an interview with <i>The Press<\/i> intervened in the debate on the purchasing power of wages and the demands of trade unions. \"<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">If the price crisis is considered to be cyclical in nature<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\"> - he pointed out -<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> I believe it should be addressed with the system of timed refreshments, such as the <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">G<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">overno is already doing. If, on the other hand, the problem were of a structural nature, instruments would have to be created that do not increase labour costs and avoid penalising the competitiveness of companies<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">.\"<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">And on the measures to be put in place, Stirpe clarified: '<b>u<\/b><\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">a reduction of the tax wedge to the benefit of workers in order to guarantee them greater purchasing power is the right path at this stage<\/span><\/b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">. It is not, however, to reason only about second-level contracts, i.e. company contracts, as has been proposed <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">by trade unions, if nothing else <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">because it would leave millions of workers uncovered<\/span><span style=\"color: black;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">I would call this an instrumental position, based on a culture that is not one of dialogue but one of conflict. Whereas instead <b>I believe there is every room for<\/b> <b>find a solution to the problems without changing either the contractual models or the inflation indices they refer to.<\/b><\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\"<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">And on the request to overcome the i<b>ndice Ipca <\/b>(harmonised consumer price index) because it would not take into account energy price increases Stirpe explained that this is not correct: 'A<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">Within the Ipca index, energy prices account for 9% and only sudden changes in oil prices are neutralised<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">', said<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">. Energy costs are therefore calculated, but are spread over a period of time <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">plus<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> long so as to avoid peaks and troughs. It is called the harmonised index precisely for this reason. Not only that, let me remind you that the HICP basket includes goods that already incorporate increases in energy prices. And then let me say that when agreements are made, they have to be respected.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">.\" In this regard, with reference to Bombardieri's threat to withdraw his signature from the <b>Factory Covenant,<\/b> clarified: 'a<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> this statement, I reply that one would then have to ask what the consequences would be.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">N<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">I don't want to make any polemic, I just say that dismantling the pact would certainly not achieve a better result.\"<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">Sharing the concern for <b>the impact on consumption<\/b> of the price increase Stirpe, however, pointed out that '.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">the tools we have devised provide<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">o<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">a fair and balanced solution. <b>The defiscalisation and decontribution of both first and second level contractual increases,<\/b> for example, can also be calibrated according to the time frame in which these increases occur. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">The <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">75% of the Confindustria contracts were <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">just<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\"> renewed <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">e<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">for the next renewals<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">,<\/span> <span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">according to Stirpe '<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">one could also think about defiscalising or decontributing the increases on the first level, only to return to normal taxation when the price flare-up dies down.\u00a0<\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">If these increases were not temporary<\/span><\/b> <span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">the only way remains to work on wage cost items. However, in this way <b>a cut in the tax wedge would become inevitable.<\/b><\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\"<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">Always on the <b>wedge<\/b> the Vice President noted that \"the<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">n this moment, the government is allocating a significant amount of resources for relief. So why not think about more structural and broader measures by thinking about the tax wedge, instead of a short-term view?<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\" he proposed, recalling that \"<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: #212121;\">a solution can be found with the tools we have available, whereas in these conditions <b>Increasing labour costs without a corresponding increase in productivity is not a viable proposition.<\/b><\/span><b><span style=\"font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Arial',sans-serif; color: black;\">\"<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; line-height: 12.35pt; background: white; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: justify;\">","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe business world is under considerable pressure at the moment due to a number of factors ranging from shortages and rising prices of raw materials to high energy costs and a significant increase in the financial costs of new mortgages, caused by rising interest rates. In this context, increasing [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6239,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"in-evidenza":[],"tag_globale":[114,65],"tema_globale":[],"tipo_news":[146],"class_list":["post-6238","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag_globale-lavoro-e-relazioni-industriali","tag_globale-vice-presidente","tipo_news-news"],"acf":{"contatti_repeater_news":"","persone_repeater_news":"","colore_fotogallery":"dark","immagini_fotogallery":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/6238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/6238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"in-evidenza","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/in-evidenza?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"tag_globale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_globale?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"tema_globale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tema_globale?post=6238"},{"taxonomy":"tipo_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.confindustria.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tipo_news?post=6238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}