The CNEL’s investigative and analytical work made it clear that the introduction of a legal minimum wage would not solve the major issue of the working poor, which goes far beyond the issue of wages. In fact, working poverty concerns the amount of work over the year for those living on precarious and intermittent contracts, the composition of income within the household, and the redistributive action of the state.

However, it should be made clear, especially for the benefit of foreign readers, that this decision does not imply that workers in Italy are deprived of protection as far as their salary treatments are concerned. And this is so not only because the Italian Constitution regulates the right to a fair and decent wage, but especially because collective bargaining is very active. Indeed, the CNEL believes that the latter is what should be favored and valued, stressing the importance of controls and supervisory interventions in the very areas of parasubordination and false self-employment.