The minimum wage in Greece will be increased from April 1, going from 780 euros gross to 830 euros gross, the Greek Prime Minister announced on Friday during a council of ministers. In March 2023, the Greek minimum wage had already been increased by 9.4%. Price increases returned to 4.3% in Greece in 2023 after exceeding 9% in 2022, according to data from the European Commission.
Increases
“When we came to power
in 2019 the minimum wage was 650 euros
. This represents an increase of around 27%
,” recalled Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The conservative leader's objective is that
“in 2027 the average salary in the country will be 1,500 euros and the minimum wage will be 950 euros”
.
“This is the fourth increase in almost five years
,” government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis also said on Thursday. Since 2019, the average salary in Greece has also increased from 1046 euros to 1251 euros, the government spokesperson also recalled.
Despite these increases, wages in Greece remain particularly low mainly due to their decrease during the financial crisis of the last decade (2009-2018) and the strict austerity measures then imposed by the country's creditors (EU and IMF). . Lowered by 22% during the crisis, the minimum wage was increased by 11% for the first time by the previous left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras (2015-2019). According to Eurostat, in 2023, the average hourly labor cost (including social security contributions) was on average 35.6 euros gross in the euro zone compared to 15.7 euros in Greece.