shostakovich

Dear expats,
I am in discussions about a research job at a university in north Italy. The salary offered is 1400 Euro per month after tax. Is this a reasonable wage for a research job in Italy? I understand the cost of living is lower than in the UK. Is it possible to live comfortably on this income without getting into financial difficulties? I am a single person with no dependants, and would be prepared to live in a shared house in order to improve my Italian language skills. Thank you.

Isakat

I do not know how much researchers are being paid in Italy, but 1.400 a month does not seem a lot, although Italian families survive on this money.
If you look into the posts on this forum you can see that cost of living in Italy ( especially in the industrialized north)is higher than in the UK.
While you will eat and drink better and cheaper, you will have higher utility bills, car insurance, high rents, etc.

Try and squeeze some more money out of them.

37100

€1.200/€1.400 is a researchers wage. A flat share is almost a must if you want a life with that amount. Northern Italy is not cheap and living alone would stretch you.

internationalbefky

I'm not a researcher but I earn the sterling equivalent of 1350 euros a month and I'm pretty sure that the only reason I'm not skint is because I work pretty much 12 hours a day so I have no time to spend what I earn. I'm also lucky in that my rent includes bills and internet, and the bakery round the corner does giant cornetti (croissants) for 50c!
I'm just south of Rome, so if you're moving to the North of Italy and that is apparently dearer, I'd try and get a bit more out of them like someone else said. Good luck!

shostakovich

Thanks to all for your replies. Looks like the pay offered is the going rate. But I will ask about university accommodation and whether they do subsidised accommodation. Something else I've heard about in Italy is 13th and 14th month pay. Is this usually offered for university research positions? Is it less likely to be offered for a 12-month or 6-month contract? Thanks again.

internationalbefky

I had a 14 month pay year in Portugal (or something like that - it always confused me!) but I haven't heard about it over here - certainly didn't get anything extra at Christmas like I did in Portugal

casalottian

I get paid in 14 months. They just divide my annual salary by 14 and I get 2 months in july ( I think) and two in december. I have a full-time (a tempo indeterminato) position, so don't know how it applies to fixed length contracts.

Lorna at Vicenza

As far as I know, only certain Italian sectors come with the 14th month pay. Two of these that I know of are "commercio" and turism.

37100

Researchers are paid 13mnths, but they might have divided the yearly wage into 12 for your information. You'll have to ask them if they mean €1400 for 12 or 13 months. Unless you are going to TrentinoAltoAdige, I doubt you'll get subsidized accommodation because they are assigned once a year on a points basis according to income etc.

gelato

As other have said this is actually not a bad wage for Italy. A lot of people I know would love to earn that. But keep in mind that the reason they're able to pay so little here in Italy (most people only early about 1000 euro a month here) is the Italian family which provides a lot of economic and other support to most people. A lot of Italian parents provide accomodation for their kids either buying them a flat, paying rent, or allowing the "kids" (often in their 30s!) to live at home. And they do things like pay for their "kids" holidays, cars or scooters, providing guarantees for mortgages and things like that.

Since you don't have an Itailan family I assume being foreign you're going to have to actually support yourself 100% on that wage which is not going to be easy. As a single person in a smaller town (ie not Milan) you might be ok but it would be very hard to support a child on that wage or afford any extras like retirement savings or travel.

ononno

Ciao Internationalbefky, if I were you I'd be having a word with my employers. How it works is that if you are paid monthly, per calender month, you are receiving only 48 weeks pay. If you were paid weekly, you would receive 52 weeks pay. That means there are another 4 weeks to make up, hence the 'tredicesimo' or thirteeth month; usually paid at Christmas, and often mistaken for a 'bonus' which it is not. A 14th. months payment could/would be classed as a bonus.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

shostakovich

Actually I hadn't thought about retirement savings and pension etc. Do people usually have an employer pension, or set up their own? Is it possible to transfer a pension from the UK?

37100

Can't help you here. Do know that itis possible to get your pension payments back in certain circumstances, but I haven't a clue what the rules are. Almost everyone pays into the national fund INPS here including uni staff. You need a 'codice fiscale' to anything and everything here. You get it at the local finance office. If you've decide to come you could get it at your Italian Embassy before leaving. For what it's worth. I'd give it a go and come unless you get a better offer else where.

internationalbefky

Hi Ononno,

Thanks for that - to be fair my employer is happy to let me work 12 hour days for that wage and would insist on me coming into work even if I was very ill (as we found out before Christmas when my colleague suffered a bad back and had to work in pain, bent at 90 degrees. She was told by our boss to get an injection for it.) so I seriously doubt that asking her about the thirteenth month will get anywhere. Also, I'm on a UK contract, so that might affect it as well. Never mind, that's what teaching is all about! :S