Greece is at the bottom of the EU in terms of GDP per capita and purchasing power. It is also at the bottom in terms of wage increases, which explains how the gap has widened even with the countries of the former Eastern Bloc.
Between 2018 and 2023, the average adjusted full-time wage (in purchasing power terms – PPS) increased by just 7%, compared to the 19% that was the European average for the 27 member states.
This performance ranks the country in 26th place, confirming the weak dynamics of labor income in the Greek economy. And that’s not all: Most workers are employed in sectors in which productivity “runs” at a faster rate than the corresponding rate of change in wages, widening this “gap”.
The report of the Center for Planning and Economic Research (KEPE) on the productivity-wage gap signed by Vlassis Missos highlights two major problems for the domestic labor market: the lag in the rate of change of wages compared to the EU – in purchasing power terms – means that the divergences with the EU continue, widening the wage gap even further. That is, during the period when many of the costs converge (e.g. food, housing, etc.), the gap in terms of earnings widens.
Also, the productivity-wage “gap” shows that the theory that the higher the labor productivity, the higher the wages seems to be not applicable in a number of sectors of the Greek economy. Based on the findings of the KEPE study, in the period 2018-2023 it is observed that in several key sectors of the Greek economy the average growth rate of labor productivity exceeds the corresponding increase in wages, which demonstrates the existence of gaps between productivity and wages.
Specifically, this applies to the following sectors:
Manufacturing,
Electricity and natural gas supply,
Wholesale trade,
Construction,
Real estate management,
Transportation and storage,
Administrative and support service activities, as well as
Administrative and support services.
