Over 42% of pensioners on under 1,000 euros a month, says INPS

(ANSA) - Rome, October 20 - Some 6.5 million Italian pensioners, 42.5% of the total, have a monthly pension of under 1,000 euros a month, pensions and social security agency INPS said Tuesday. The agency added that 1.88 pensioners (12.1% of the total) are on less than 500 euros a month. It added that Italy now has less than three million public sector workers employed on permanent, open-ended contracts. It said there were 2,953,000 public workers in 2014, almost 300,000 less than the 3.23 million people on the public payroll in 2011, after a government-imposed halt on new hires to replace retiring civil servants.