70% OF ITALANS SAY THEIR INCOME IS NOT ENOUGH

70% OF ITALANS SAY THEIR INCOME IS NOT ENOUGH

(ANSA) - Rome, November 11 - Some 70% of Italians do not consider their income sufficient to meet their needs, a percentage which is twice that of 1990, according to a report presented Wednesday at the University of Rome.

The report also found that welfare and social security coverage were insufficient and that only one third of the country's unemployed were drawing income support.

Although welfare spending in Italy was in line with the average in the European Union, the report found that this was due to the country's low GDP growth, whereas per capita welfare spending was far below the EU average.

According to the head of Italy's biggest trade union CGIL, Guglielmo Epifani, "this report has confirmed what we already know".

However, experts at the industrial employers association Confindustria observed that "if calculations are made on per capita GDP then we are a poor country which cannot afford a rich welfare system".