Greek salaries yet to catch up

The Greek worker is the only one in Europe who still has a lower nominal salary compared to 10 years ago. If we compare it with the pre-bailout levels (before 2010), the losses reach 17% without taking into account any damage caused by inflation.

Even in 2013 - in the midst of the bailout storm - Greece still held 14th place in Europe based on the average annual earnings of a full-time worker. Today it ranks fifth from bottom among the 27 member-countries. Greece surpasses only Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, while the difference with Poland is now minimal.

The divergence with the rest of the European member-states continues, as even in the last two years when salaries started to rise again, the growth pace is the second slowest in the European Union.

A major problem is the lag in labor competitiveness, deductions from wages - so-called non-salary costs - which...