In the same period other countries, spurred by the technological paradigm shift of ICT, had seen their productivity rates soar. The strong growth in employment that was nevertheless recorded in Italy in the pre-crisis years, favoured by the introduction of more flexible work contracts, proved insufficient to offset the effect of the stagnation of productivity on households’ disposable income.
At the outbreak of the crisis, for the average household this was at the same level as in the mid1990s and only the progressive reduction of the saving rate had enabled modest growth in consumption. The diminishing ability to generate income heralds a decline in living standards, both with respect to this country’s past and to the world’s main players.