Minimum wage

The National Assembly has passed a law designed to reduce the impact of the annual increase in the minimum wage on households' creditworthiness after the latest increase rendered much of the population ineligible for a mortgage.

With the new increase in the minimum wage to 780 euros gross and the drop in unemployment, a view across private sector payrolls in 2023 would show that about half of the country's workers will be paid gross earnings of €700-1,000 - i.e. up to €820 euros net.

Thousands of protesters filled downtown Lisbon on March 18 to demand higher wages and pensions, as well as government intervention to cap soaring food prices they say are strangling already tight budgets.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Friday that the government will raise the minimum wage next month, for a third time in little more than a year. 

More specifically, Mitsotakis' conservative administration, whose four-year tenure ends in July, intends to raise the minimum wage by 9.4% to 780 euros per month, beginning April 1.

The increase in the monthly minimum wage by 9.4% as of April 1 "is a far cry from the demands of the poorest of workers and does not allow them to cover basic living needs," the country's biggest private-sector trade union federation has said.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the new increase in the minimum wage, which will become 780 euros from April 1, ANA-MPA agency reported.

The Greek government will raise the minimum wage next month, the third rise in more than a year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday, months before its term ends.

Mitsotakis' conservative government, whose four-year term ends in July, raised the monthly gross minimum wage twice last year to 713 euros as households' incomes took a hit from persistently high inflation.

Finally, the parliament decided that the minimum wage should be 50% of the national average.

Walmart announced on Jan. 24 it will again raise pay for hourly staff, an indication of persistent tightness in the labor market for front-line employees despite layoffs in the tech sector.

The retail giant, the biggest private employer in the United States, is boosting the pay range at U.S. stores to between $14 and $19 an hour from the prior $12 to $18 an hour.

Slovenian banks are sounding the alarm and urging the central bank to ease lending conditions after a significant increase in the minimum wage and new capital requirements have rendered much of the population ineligible for a mortgage.