First signs of stabilization in salaries

By Sotiris Nikas

The first signs that a long period of declining salaries is gradually coming to end are emerging from the latest Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) data. According to the authority’s salary index, in the first quarter of the year salaries grew by 0.6 percent from the same period in 2013 across the economy, while in comparison to the index’s peak in Q1 of 2010 salaries have dropped by 24.7 percent.

The rise by 0.6 percent in the January-March 2014 period comes after the seasonal adjustment of data. ELSTAT has applied Eurostat standards and has concluded that the first quarter of the year was the first in 14 consecutive quarters in which the index stopped declining. In the first quarter of 2013 the seasonally adjusted index had shown a 12.4 percent drop from Q1 of 2012.

This reversal points to a stabilization of salaries, which are now entering a new period. Finance Ministry officials expect that this could have a favorable impact on consumption and on the course of the country’s gross domestic product.