Abstract

The essay analyzes in-work poverty, a currently widespread phenomenon among both dependent employees and self-employed workers. As far as dependent employees are concerned, the study focuses on collective bargaining, with respect to: the rules established since 1993 about wage increases; the effects of national agreements' growing number, for most of them provide particularly low wages. With regard to self-employment, the Author describes the currently applicable and the recent draft legislation, which have been respectively either introduced or proposed in order to guarantee minimum wages. The analysis concludes that the only way to cope with the ongoing trends would be setting limits and boundaries to the globalized economy's dynamics.