Minimum Wages: Greeks to Earn Less Than €3 Per Hour

Posted by keeptalkinggreece

That’s a nice Valentine’s gift from the Greek state to employees of the private sector. With the publication of the new loan agreement in the Official Gazette in express procedures, employees in the private sector will see their wages decreasing by -22% as soon as possible. That is a monthly income loss of €165-228. For employees under 25 years old things will look much worse with a -32% and €240 less in their pockets. Until now the minimum wage was 751 EUR gross. The new horizontal reduction that will push labourers into a fast-track impoverishment, as the cost of living remains high.

The new minimum wages for work starters, whether with University degree or primary education, will be:
Group A) Unmarried, over 25 years old, will get 586 EUR (489 EUR net) for the first 3 years of work, and 750 EUR after 9 years. That is in 2021, the employee will earn as much as a new starter was earning until 1.1.2012.
Group B) Married , over 25 years old will get 644 EUR for the first, 3 years and 808 EUR after 9 years.
Group C) Employees until 25 years old will get 510 EUR (440 EUR net). The employer will be allowed to dismiss older and more expensive employees and hire cheap labour craft.
Unemployment allowance is expected to drop from 461 EUR down to 359 EUR. Unemployment allowance is given for the time period of 12 months, independently of how many years the jobless has worked.
Internship allowance for those until 23 years old will be reduced from 527 EUR down to 410 EUR.
The new Memorandum of Understanding has a provision to reduce further the minimum wages in July, so that Greece can be competitive to Portugal (566 EUR), [Then they will go to Portugal and say, you're not competitive enough to Greece...]
The good scenario: Group A works 40 hours per week, 5 days per week: Employer earns 2.93 EUR per hour gross or 2.55 EUR net. Under the same work conditions, Group C earn 2.55 EUR gross or 2.20 EUR net.
I know people who have been offered 400 EUR per month, 8 hours per day, 5 days per week. No insurance.
The bad scenario: Group A and C work 40+ hours per week. Estimated earning per hour ….”priceless” lol
Whether somebody can cover basic needs with such salaries, it is up to Merkel, the IMF & Co to answer this question…
To compare: 1 Liter Gasoline = 1.70 EUR at least; 1 Liter Heating Oil = 1.10 EUR; 1 Cheese-pie (snack) = 1.50 EUR; 1 Souvlaki = 2.20 EUR.
minimum wages sources: imerisia.gr, capital.gr