Minimum wage

An 11 percent increase in Greece's minimum wage and the abolition of the so-called subminimum wage paid to young employees which were announced by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras during a cabinet meeting early this week came into effect on Friday.

The announced increase of the minimum wage to 650 euros a month (gross) has generated concern domestically and abroad regarding the impact on the economy.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced an 11 percent increase in the minimum wage during a cabinet meeting on Monday, the first such wage hike in the country in almost a decade.

The announcement of the increase of the minimum wage, expected this week, is set to create a new social, economy and business landscape in Greece.

Greek textile industries cannot afford an increase of more than 5 percent in the minimum wage, the head of the Association of Greek Textile Manufacturers, Eleftherios Kourtalis, has noted in a letter to Labor Minister Effie Achtsioglou.

The increase of the minimum wage looks likely to be just over 8 percent, or 50 euros per month. The ministerial decision, which will be signed next week, is expected to lead to pay adjustments for more than 400,000 employees who receive the minimum monthly wage.

The heads of the creditors' mission to Athens have, according to sources, expressed concern about the abolition of the subminimum wage during their meetings with political party representatives.

The slowdown in the rate of job creation in the last few months of 2018 averted the achievement of an all-time high in new jobs, according to the official data of the Labor Ministry's Ergani hirings database.

In 2018 as a whole, 141,003 new jobs were created, according to the database, down from 143,545 jobs created in 2017, meaning that 2,542 fewer jobs were created last year.

The government is resorting to all kinds of ways to raise its social profile ahead of the general election, using the increase in the minimum wage as its main instrument. This is because the upcoming interventions in salaries and handouts are expected to affect millions of citizens, and even middle-class households.

A planned increase in the minimum wage on January 15 will affect more than 1.5 million employees, but also unemployed people receiving benefits based on its level.