Istat, wages +2.5% in September, growth lower than inflation

The hourly contractual wages index, in September 2026, remains unchanged compared to the previous month and increases by 2.5% compared to September 2025.

The trend increase was 2.3% in the private sector (3.3% in agriculture, 2.6% in industry and 2.1% in private services) and 3.2% for the public administration. Istat communicates this by underlining that in the first nine months of the year the average hourly wage grew by 2.5% compared to the same period in 2025. "For the second consecutive quarter - underlines the Institute - the trend growth of contractual wages is lower than that of inflation".

Istat reports that in the private sector the salary dynamic - less sustained than that of inflation as early as April 2026 - "in September is approximately two percentage points lower than that of the IPCA".

The sectors showing the highest trend increases are schools (+5.5%), telecommunications (5.1%) and environmental hygiene (+5.0%). The increase is zero for private pharmacies, the central functions sector, law enforcement agencies, armed forces and firefighters. The energy and oil sector recorded a +4.3% increase in wages while trade was limited to +1.9%, well below inflation. For public establishments, there was a +2.1% increase in wages. For industry, the average increase recorded for wages was 2.6%, while for private services there was a +2.1%, for agriculture a +3.3% and for the Public Administration a +3.2%.