500.000 Greeks of working age have left the country and have no plans to return due to low pay.
Everyone would have expected that the severe shortage of personnel observed in many sectors of the Greek economy would bring wage increases, in order for businessmen to attract workers and thus cover their needs, even if they had to dig deep into their pockets.
But as figures from the Bank of Greece and the eight-year monetary policy report 2016 to 2023 show, this is not happening, and wages above a certain level remain largely stagnant.
Αn interesting fact is also that during the hard years of the bailout agreements and harsh austerity almost 500,000 workers in the prime productive age of 25-44 left Greece. Despite the fact that conditions have improved significantly in Greece, these workers find it difficult to return, because wages have not reached a competitive level as in other countries.
The main conclusion from the analysis of the data is that salaries above 1,650 euros show stagnation. Conversely, the picture is better in the lower pay scales, as wages show an increase.
In particular, the minimum wage shows a cumulative increase from 2016 to 2023, which was about 33%. Pay scales above the minimum wage are increasing, but at a slower rate than the minimum wage.
Analysts and market players estimate that this picture is indicative of the labor market in recent years, where the increases only concern the bottom rungs and, due to the lack of collective labor agreements, do not affect the rest of the wages.
The report also states that the stagnation has a negative effect on the effort to return to our country the workforce that left during the economic crisis.
According to the report, more than 467,000 people aged 25-44 immigrated in the decade 2008-2017. Among them are also many permanent residents of Greece of foreign nationality, who left at the beginning of the crisis.
Low wages and working conditions are the main obstacle to returning to Greece for almost one in four Greeks living abroad.
The same applies to the great difficulties faced by companies in finding qualified personnel. According to the data of the report, the effect of the minimum wage increases on the wage scales up to the levels of 1,100-1,200 euros was positive. However, the effect was waning.
In contrast, for jobs paying more than €1,650 in 2016, the main finding of the report is that there is no significant change until 2023. It also appears that a small proportion of high-paying jobs in 2016 are receiving lower wages (below from 1,650 euros) in 2023.
This is probably due to the replacement of some workers with other lower paid ones or to new hires in similar jobs, who receive lower salaries.
More specifically, for low-wage jobs (up to €850 in 2016), the average rate of change in nominal wages was 26.9% from 2016 to 2023. Conversely, high-wage jobs (above €1,650 in 2016) had an estimated average nominal pay increase of just 0.7%.
This means that, on average, wages in this category have remained essentially unchanged. Considering that in the period 2016-2023 the price level, based on the Consumer Price Index, increased cumulatively by about 16%, it follows that in real terms there have been wage increases in low-paid jobs, while higher-paid jobs have not.
source: topontiki.gr
and the ruling class is laughing in its sleeves at us calling 1650 a month ‘high wage’ whereas anywhere else in europe that’s probably about the minimum anybody gets for doing unskilled labor and a ‘normal’ job pays 2-4 times that.
(of course our expenses here are as high or higher than in much of the rest of europe, too!)
I guess it’s not only they cannot find a good job.
It is also the general situation in Greece.
I am 50 plus so I’m not interested in leaving my country now.
But if I did it, that would be mainly for the low salaries, the expensive products, corruption, and the insecurity that greek justice provide us..
Greece has a structural (more or less permanant) problem with its version of capitalism, which is unable to finance suitably high wages for skilled workers. There are many, different causes of this — including inefficient business practices, insufficient use of modern technologies, lack of capital investment, bad business strategies, non-existent training of the workforce — which should be continious upgrading of skills, and poor educational levels and missing skills in schools and universities, inter alia. The upshot is that Greek businesses cannot compete in a European or global market owing to low levels of efficiency and productivity. This situation improved slightly after 2010, owing to lower wages, and has now deteriorated very badly owing to the foolish economic policies of ND with very high indirect taxes, escalating property and rental prices, and zero state support for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Essentially, Greek governments ensure that the Greek people remain in relative poverty for all time. You have to be either delusional to remain working in Greece, unless you are a part of the criminal mafia or the political mafia (there is a small distinction between the two).
The phenomenon is not new. I worked for a Greek company in northern Greece from 1997 to 2011. Theoretically my salary was above €1,650 per month, although mostly it wasn’t paid. I did not receive a single cent pay rise during that 14 years.
Working in the UK for the previous 27 years there was never a single year when I didn’t receive a pay rise. In nominal terms, i.e. not corrected for inflation, my salary rose by almost a factor 40 over that period due to a combination of promotions and pay rises.
All of the above is why my three, well educated, daughters left these shores vowing never to return. As they were growing up I would never have believed that was their, and my, future. Shame on this country.
Young Greek people which take full advantage of the free market economy the rest of the world offers. It’s a shame they cannot embrace the very same concepts in there own country. Furthermore they are welcomed and valued in other free market economys, Greece however would not except the same young ambitious migrants, thanks to it’s underlying xenophobia .Greece for Greeks rest of the world for Greeks.
The Greeks invented everything, democracy, how to do business, effective fiscal policy, good service, intelligence, the list is endless.
Reality check they invented nothing , and most greek business people are in business by accident.
To the 500,000 stay where you are and fulfill your potential, and learn from people who can do business.
Just left Crete at the end of May, to find my “luck”somewhere else.
Working the same hours like the people whom are involved with tourism, and it’s raining almost every day here 🙂
The differnce is, that earning 200 euro’s a day, is a bad day…
Petrol, supermarkets, electricity and phone bills and such are much lower than in Crete..
The moment i’m gonna miss the blue Sea and the sun, i will jump on a plane, and fly where ever i want.
Greece is in my heart, but all the “Malakies” made me to go…
The country has everything to be one of the wealthiest in Europe. but the people of Greece has to stand up, and don’t take this bullshit anymore, work as a team! Only then you can go forward..