The shopping cart, the bills, the fuel, the rent, the transportation, the difficulty making ends meet even if you work or, worse still, live on a pension: the high cost of living weighs on families and workers.
"It's no longer a temporary emergency, but a structural problem," observes Pier Luigi Ledda , regional secretary of the CISL union. And in Sardinia, the crisis is more serious than in other regions because the starting conditions are already disadvantaged: wages below the national average, already low compared to other industrialized countries and above all stagnant, discontinuous employment, and involuntary part-time work. Impacting the daily lives of Sardinians is not only the level of wages, but also the lower number of days worked (72% on the island compared to a national average of 78%) and the greater prevalence of involuntary part-time work, especially among women.
"We're cutting back on necessities." For a family earning €1,500 a month, the increase in their shopping basket (+5.8%) means about €81 more per month: "Almost a thousand euros a year, a huge amount for those without savings or additional income," comments Ledda. The regional secretary of the UIL, Fulvia Murru , describes a situation she encounters every day in the workplace: the salary runs out before the end of the month, and people start saving even on necessities. In Sardinia, she emphasizes, a significant portion of income is absorbed by travel, energy, and the difficulty of accessing services.
