What Foreign Workers Earn in Italy by Trade (2026): Net Pay and What Is Left

How pay is set in Italy

Italy has no national minimum wage law. Instead, almost every job is covered by a national collective agreement for its sector, the CCNL, signed by employer associations and unions. The agreement fixes the minimum gross pay for each level, the hours, the overtime rates, the holidays and the extra monthly payments. Your contract must name the agreement and your level. If it does not, that is the first sign something is wrong.

Everything below is given as a range under the 2026 contracts, as of October 2026. The exact table for your level is public; ask the employer which agreement and which level, then look it up or ask a union desk. Nobody should invent these numbers for you, and we do not.

Gross to net: what disappears before you see it

Italian pay slips show the gross (lordo) and the net (netto). Between them sit your social contributions (about 9 to 10 per cent) and income tax (IRPEF, 23 per cent on the first 28,000 euro a year, with deductions that reduce it a lot at low pay). As a rough rule for a full-time worker on 1,700 to 2,200 euro gross:

• Net is about 72 to 78 per cent of gross for a single worker with no dependants.
• Dependants raise the net through family allowances (assegno unico) paid separately by INPS, if your family lives in Italy.
• 13th month (tredicesima) in December is in every contract. Many contracts also pay a 14th month in June (tourism, trade, some logistics). So yearly net is the monthly net times 13 or 14, not 12.
• TFR (severance) accrues at about one month per year and is paid when you leave.

Net monthly pay by trade, 2026 contracts

Full time, entry to mid level, net, before the 13th and 14th month. Northern regions are at the top of each range, the south at the bottom.

• Construction (CCNL Edilizia): labourer (operaio comune) 1,350 to 1,550 euro; skilled (operaio qualificato, specializzato) 1,500 to 1,800. Site allowances and travel add 100 to 250. Construction also pays into the Cassa Edile, which gives you holiday and seniority money separately.
• Metalworking and welding (CCNL Metalmeccanici): level D1 to D2 1,450 to 1,650; a certified welder or CNC operator at C2 to C3 1,650 to 1,950. Shift and overtime are common and paid at 25 to 50 per cent extra.
• Agriculture (CCNL Operai Agricoli, provincial tables): seasonal day labourer 55 to 75 euro net a day, so 1,200 to 1,500 a month in season; permanent farm worker 1,300 to 1,500. Housing is sometimes provided; ask what it costs.
• Hotels and restaurants (CCNL Turismo): kitchen helper or room attendant level 6 to 7, 1,250 to 1,450; cook level 4 to 5, 1,450 to 1,750. The 14th month applies. Seasonal contracts in the Alps and on the coast often include room and board, which changes the picture completely.
• Warehouse and logistics (CCNL Logistica, Trasporto Merci): warehouse worker 1,400 to 1,600; forklift 1,500 to 1,700; truck driver with CE licence and CQC 1,800 to 2,400 with allowances.
• Domestic and care work (CCNL Lavoro Domestico): live-in badante 1,050 to 1,500 depending on level, plus room and board. See our badante page.

What it costs to live, and what is left

The number that matters to you is what remains after rent, food and transport. Ranges for 2026:

• A room in a shared flat: 350 to 550 euro a month in Milan, Bologna and Rome; 250 to 400 in Turin, Padua, Brescia and the smaller northern cities; 200 to 300 in the south.
• Food, cooking at home: 200 to 280 a month.
• Transport: a monthly city pass 35 to 40 euro; many workers cycle.
• Phone and small costs: 30 to 60.

Two costs are easy to forget in the first year. Sending money home costs 2 to 6 per cent through a bank or a licensed transfer service, more through informal channels, and that comes out of the amount above. And the first months in Italy have one-off costs that later months do not: the permesso di soggiorno kit and the electronic permit fee (roughly 100 to 130 euro together, as of 2026), a deposit of one to three months on a room, work boots or a uniform where the employer does not provide them, and a phone contract. Plan for 800 to 1,200 euro of first-month costs before the first pay arrives, which in Italy is normally paid at the end of the month after the month worked.

A construction labourer in Brescia on 1,450 net, renting a room for 320, spending 250 on food and 40 on transport, keeps about 800 euro a month, and about 1,000 in the 13th-month months. A live-in caregiver on 1,200 net with room and board keeps almost all of it. A seasonal farm worker who pays 150 for a bed in a farm building keeps most of 1,300 but only for the season. These are the sums worth doing before you choose a trade and a city.

Overtime, shifts and the hours that change the month

The base figures above are for the contract hours, 40 a week in most sectors, 39 in metalworking, 54 for a live-in caregiver. The month many foreign workers actually see is bigger because of overtime and shifts, and it is worth knowing the rules so you can check your slip. Overtime is paid at a premium set by the agreement: usually 15 to 25 per cent for the first hours, 30 to 50 per cent for night, Sunday and holiday work. Construction and logistics have the most overtime; hotels in season have the most Sunday and holiday work. Night shifts in factories carry a fixed allowance per shift. A metalworker doing two Saturdays a month and some evening shifts can add 200 to 350 euro net to the base. The other side is that unpaid overtime is the most common abuse reported by foreign workers in Italy: hours worked that never appear on the slip. Keep your own record of hours from day one, by phone photo of the timesheet or a note each evening. If the slip and your record disagree, a union desk will take it up for you at no cost, and the agreements give you up to five years to claim unpaid hours.

How to check a pay offer

• Ask for the CCNL name and the level in writing. Look up the minimum for that level. An offer below it is illegal.
• Ask whether the figure is gross or net, and whether the 13th and 14th are included or on top.
• Ask what is deducted for housing or food if the employer provides them. The agreements cap these deductions.
• Ask how overtime is paid. Unpaid overtime is the most common complaint of foreign workers in Italy.
• Ask whether the contract is permanent (tempo indeterminato) or fixed-term. A fixed-term contract pays the same table but ends on a date, and your permit renewal depends on having work when it ends.
• If the pay sounds far above the range here for an entry job, read our scam page first. Real Italian pay for manual work is modest; the offers that promise 3,000 euro net for a labourer are not real.

The ministry publishes the agreements and the union desks (CGIL, CISL, UIL) read a contract for free. The ministry's site is lavoro.gov.it.

Where this leaves you

Read these next, in this order:

• Italy work visa 2026: types, cost, processing time
• Construction jobs in Italy for foreign workers
• Hotel and hospitality jobs in Italy for foreign workers
• Warehouse and logistics jobs in Italy for foreign workers
• Working in Italy from Bangladesh: visa, permit, costs

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