The wage data for each sector of employment and their qualitative use, as well as the time period over which each calculation will be made from now on, are the main parameters that the Commission has undertaken to record, from which the wage variation index will be derived. An index that will be “responsible”, from 2025, for the increases that will be given to pensions but also for the amount of insurance contributions that will be paid by unemployed insured persons.
The collaboration for the definitive creation of the specific index is interministerial (Ministry of Labour and Finance), with the support of ELSTAT, but also using data from the ERGANI system. The competent Committee should have arrived at this indicator for the first time no later than 15 December this year.
The Committee responsible for creating the specific index shall clarify specific parameters on the basis of which the necessary determination will be made from now on. These parameters are as follows:
- Index quality control.
- Create a reliable source from which to extract any data needed to determine the index.
- Payroll data that should exist by work sector. In addition, working hours per employee must be recorded.
- Time basis for calculating the salary index.
- Mapping of all categories to which the wage index will be applied, in relation to data that can be extracted from the labour market. Adjustment Social security experts estimate that in periods when wages in the private sector will increase, this will also have a positive effect on the wage index, which will be adjusted from year to year.
Therefore, in order for pensions to continue to increase and for the problem called the “personal gap” to disappear for all retirees, wages in the labour market will have to increase from now on. It is worth noting that 2025 will be the first year in which the wage index model will be applied to determine increases in pensions, as well as in insurance contributions for unemployed insured persons.
In the two years 2023–2024, any corresponding increases will result from changes in annual inflation (Consumer Price Index) combined with the country’s growth rate. But in the new year, pension increases will no longer depend on inflation and the country’s growth rate, as a new size will be created, which is expected to more accurately describe the country’s labor market picture in terms of the wage area.
The procedure with the salary index has been institutionalized since 2019, but the implementation was “frozen” during the two years of the pandemic, only to come back to the surface now.
The limit set is 2002, to control pension increases. Data up to 2024 were obtained in relation to the Consumer Price Index and the growth rate. From 2025 onwards, however, the new data that will be recorded and will lead to increases will depend on the wage index. In any case, the interventions that will be made in pensions will concern only their compensatory part. Any increases given in relation to the wage index will be limited there. However, the Financial Council already knows that, regardless of the percentage of increases that will be given to pensions in the new year, there are around 750,000 pensioners who are in a “personal gap”.
This means that the pension they receive is higher than the one that resulted after its recalculation (accounting). Thus, for the third year in a row, pensioners in this category will not see any practical increase in their income. Simply, the increase granted will cause an accounting reduction in their “personal difference”. Once the “personal difference” is zero, pensioners in this category will be able to receive a real increase in their pensions and, therefore, in their monthly income. This is why these retirees are already scheduled to receive a special “personal difference” allowance, which will somewhat limit the annual loss they will have in 2025.