(Bloomberg) -- Italy’s new citizens’ income risks being too generous and may stop people from looking for a job, the nation’s main business lobby said.

The monthly benefit of up to 780 euros ($893 euros) could discourage a single person in his or her twenties from seeking employment, Confindustria’s head of labor and welfare affairs Pierangelo Albini told lawmakers in Rome on Monday.

Albini stressed that the sum would compare with median similar or even lower amounts that the same people, currently employed, get in their first job. In particular:

  • 830 euros net paid nationwide
  • 910 euros in the country’s northern regions, 820 euros to those without a degree
  • 740 euros in the south, 700 for those without a degree

Albini expressed a general concern about the way the citizens’ income will be implemented.

“The measure deals with real problem requiring of course a solution,” he said. “What is a matter for debate is the way that solution is provided. We fear that this tool, instead of prompting people to look for a job, could have the effect of discouraging them from doing it.”

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte will present later on Monday the features of the new tool at an event in Rome.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lorenzo Totaro in Rome at ltotaro@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Kevin Costelloe, Jerrold Colten

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