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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

IKA: Average Salary Drops in Greece

The average salary in the Greek private sector dropped by 10.27% in 2013, while the earnings drop in the construction sector was even steeper, at 15.82%, according to data compiled by Greece’s main social security fund IKA. Additionally, average daily wages fell 6.92% and 7.11% respectively. According to the data, the average daily wage of those in full-time employment (excluding the financial sector) came to 54.66 euros and the average monthly salary to 1,265.08 euros. In part-time employment the respective rates were 25.07 euros and 445.33 euros. The average daily wage in the construction sector was 43.08 euros and the average salary 561.33 euros. The IKA data show that the smaller the business, the lower the remuneration. In businesses with fewer than 10 employees, the average daily wage for full-time work was 63.3% of the average wage at larger firms, while the respective average salary stood at 60.78%. The wages of women in full-time employment stood at 84.4% of those for men, while for part-time work the respective rate was 95.42%. Retail and wholesale commerce remained the largest employers, accounting for 21.98% of jobs. Manufacturing was next with 14.42% and tourism third with 10.90%. IKA data shows that until December 2013, 34% of employees received salaries lower than the salaries of unskilled workers. It also shows that half of the employees insured at the fund had a gross salary of less than 936.64 euros. This means that after subtracting income tax and solidarity contributions, the net earnings of more than half of the private sector employees was a little less than 730 euros. The IKA report notes that the drop in salaries is partly due to the shifting from collective labor agreements to personal contracts and the shifting of full-time to part-time employment. In 2013, more than 400,000 people were working part-time. Also, 23.2% of private sector workers (approximately 372,808 people) receive a salary of less than 500 euros per month. In 2012 it stood at 12%. However, the report notes that there are still 47,656 workers (3% of the total workforce insured at the fund) who receive salaries of 4,000 euros or more per month and 5,116 employees who get over 10,000 euros per month. Interesting to note that the number of employees in this category increased from 3,942 individuals in 2012 to 5,116 in 2013. Moreover, the percentage of employees who receive less than 1,000 euros per month skyrocketed from 37% in 2011, to 53.7% in 2013.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com