Even households with two workers are unable to meet their basic needs
Life with dignity: the central slogan during the strike mobilization of private sector employees last Wednesday. The question arises effortlessly. How is it possible that the world of wage labor is demanding a “life with dignity” by demonstrating and striking at the same time that the prime minister declares that “Greece is a country with an amazing quality of life”? How is the image of the ministers celebrating and admiring themselves because from April 1st the minimum wage was increased to 830 euros connected with this 17 days later, when employees are taking to the streets to demand wage increases that will allow them to live with dignity? This is where the elements come in and boom. Most Greek households, more than 65%, live a “life of survival” in a country where the cost of living crisis is due to the profiteering inflation that inflates day by day to profit the cartels and profit through indirect taxes (VAT ) the GDP.
Even in the pool of the Delphi Forum, where the domestic political system is washed away and the participating ministers are praised for their “successes”, the problem could not be swept under the carpet. Moderating a related discussion, the professor of Management, Science and Technology at the Athens University of Economics and Business Giorgos Doukidis highlighted what is happening in front of the supermarket shelves. Where the dignity of the Greeks is being trampled on because their wallets cannot afford to take what they need:
- 2/3 of income is spent on bills, rent and taxes.
- 2/3 of consumers in Greece spend 90% of their income on basic goods.
- 36% feel insecure.
- 29% feel anger and 20% fear.
- Four out of ten consider that they will reduce purchases in the next six months.
On the edge of survival
The picture is nothing short of dystopian. At least 66.6% of households in Greece are suffocating from the cost of living crisis. Especially for wage earners the money they earn from their work does not allow them to live decently.
But what is the picture of the world of wage labor in Greece? According to the data of the ERGANI system, the average salary for 2023 was close to 1,250 euros per month. Because in Greece we are paid with 14 salaries, the annual earnings amount to 17,500 euros. Mind you, this is the gross salary. If we deduct the income tax (1,299 euros) and the insurance contributions (2,427 euros), a net salary (annual 13,774 euros) remains of the order of 984 euros per month. The average wage earner in Greece has to live with these. Even if the spouse also works and receives the average salary – a rare event – the family income from salaried work amounts to 27,548 euros per year.
Soaring expenses
As defined, reasonable living expenses include the goods and services that households consume and are classified into four groups according to how necessary they are for living: basic needs, food, durable goods and travel – leisure.
According to the relevant data of ELSTAT, for a family of four they amount to between 18,000 and 20,000 euros per year. However, reasonable living expenses do not include housing. If a family of four rents, the cost of living reaches unimaginable figures. According to the relevant search platforms, a two-bedroom apartment in an apartment building built in the 1970s in Pagrati is rented for around 800 euros per month. It is a district of Athens where a middle-income family lives. Rents are at the same levels in most districts of Athens. This means that another 10,000 euros must be added to the costs.
As it turns out, reasonable living expenses, including rent, reach 30,000 euros per year, not counting extraordinary expenses (emerging health problems, etc.). The average income of a family of four with both parents working amounts to 27,548 euros per year and is 2,500 euros short of reasonable living expenses. What do they all do to survive in the country with the amazing, according to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, quality of life? According to a study by Intrum, almost three out of ten consumers in Greece spend more than their monthly income, with the average overspending estimated at 275 euros. The money comes either from savings or from cards or from loans…
53.6% of employees earn less than €1,000
The environment in relation to reasonable living expenses, which do not decrease according to salary earnings, becomes suffocating if one is below the zone of 1,000 euros gross. It would not be a problem if, according to the ERGANI system, 53.68% of the country’s employees, which amount to a total of 2.29 million workers, do not belong to this zone. Another 373,163 (ie 16.25%) are paid between 1,001 and 1,200 euros. Life on loans, then, because Mitsotakis wants to feed the cartels with obscene profits and celebrate tax-inducing growth.
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