SCALA MOBILE. – This is the legal technical instrument for preserving over time the purchasing power of the working and clerical classes intact with respect to a given period. This period is established as the reference basis for fixing the necessary indices, so that the variations in the remuneration and compensation of each type of work may be determined correctly from the economic and social standpoint, in relation to changes in the cost of living.
The adoption of the s. m. as a particular system of remuneration for the work of manual and clerical employees arises, in countries with substantial development, especially industrial development, above all during periods of economic disorder and monetary instability, when frequent variations occur in the prices of goods and consequently in the cost of living.
The establishment of a system of s. m. therefore requires, as a preliminary: a) first of all, the fixing of a cost-of-living index; b) the determination of the remuneration subject to variation; c) the determination of the period of time to which the ratio for applying the system is to be assigned.
This entails the resolution of extremely laborious problems by the representatives of the various categories. Thus, the cost-of-living index can be fixed only after a standard family budget has been drawn up and the problem of prices has been resolved (that is, whether account is to be taken only of administered prices or only of free-market prices).
As regards the identification of the remuneration to be subjected to the s. m., the usual criterion is to limit variations to only one part of the remuneration. The purpose is to confer a certain stability over time upon the remaining part and, at the same time, to bring about a certain redistribution of real income within the categories.
In Italy, the origins of the s. m. for wages and salaries date back to 1945, when it appeared necessary to reorganize the criteria for remunerating labor by linking their evolution to that of the cost of living. Since it was impossible to contemplate excessively frequent revisions of labor contracts, the mechanism of the s. m. was devised; it was instituted for the northern provinces by the agreement of 6 Dec. 1945 and extended to the central and southern provinces by the agreement of 23 May 1946. Finally, by the agreement of 27 Oct. 1946, the system of the s. m. was unified throughout the country. A four-year period of experience (Oct. 1946–Oct. 1950) revealed, together with the essential soundness of the s. m. system, certain shortcomings as well, and after lengthy negotiations, begun at the end of 1948, a new agreement was concluded in Milan on 21 March 1951. The principal merit of this agreement consists in the establishment of a new family budget, on the basis of which the national cost-of-living index is determined from the average expenditure in the budget, calculated in 16 provincial and regional capitals: Milano, Torino, Genova, Venezia, Bologna, Firenze, Ancona, Pescara, Perugia, Roma, Napoli, Potenza, Bari, Catanzaro, Palermo and Cagliari. Each upward variation in the cost-of-living index gives rise to an increase in the contingency allowance, on the basis of special tables differentiated according to the employees’ classification, age, sex and place of work. Each downward variation in the same index results in a reduction of the contingency allowance; this, however, occurs with particular corrective measures intended to make the descent of the s. m. slower than its ascent, at least until an overall reduction of 11% has been reached in relation to the cost-of-living level in the two-month period Nov.–Dec. 1950. Once this limit has been exceeded, the mechanism will operate in full; if, on the other hand, the cost of living, compared with the base period, should increase by more than 25%, the entire system will have to be reconsidered.
It is generally held that the automatic application of the s. m. to labor remuneration corresponds to a principle of justice. Nevertheless, certain students of economics maintain that, once made systematic and universal, it may run the risk of encouraging the phenomenon of devaluation and thereby causing serious harm and suffering to those whose standard of living it was intended instead to protect.