A report by the largest Greek union confederation this week shows a “two-speed” labor sector in Greece, with employees in the wider public sector enjoying, on average, higher wages and salaries than their counterparts in the private sector.
The “two-speed” metaphor, which emerged onto the limelight over the past week in the wake of a mini-EU summit between the leaders of the Euro zone’s four biggest countries and economies, takes on a more negative connotation when describing the labor sector in crisis-battered Greece.
According to study by the affiliated research institute of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the oldest union umbrella group in the country, the job market in the Greece over the crisis years also shows the dominance of company-wide labor contract instead of the previously dominant sector-wide contracts achieved through mandatory collective bargaining. Additionally, the expansion of part-time employment in Greece is also noteworthy.
In terms of remuneration, the percentage of people in the private sector with net monthly wages under 700 euros has significantly increased, and now reaches 38.8 percent of the total – up from 13.1 percent in 2009. The figure is 51.6 percent of the workforce when the net monthly wages are under 800 euros.
In the cavernous public sector of Greece, however, employees earning under 800 euros in net monthly pay are 11 percent of the total (wider public sector workforce).
Additionally, according to the research institute (INE), only 10 sector-wide labor contracts were signed in 2016.
