Minimum wage

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.

The process for setting the minimum wage in 2023 is to be accelerated and brought forward so that the new basic wage can come into effect on April 1, in line with a pledge made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis under a new Labor and Social Affairs Ministry amendment announced on Friday.

The statutory minimum wage in Slovenia this year has been set at €878 net a month, €100 more than the year before in the most substantial rise in a decade. There are concerns the hike will increase pressure for other wages to be raised as well and thus fuel inflation further.

Labour and Social Affairs Minister Kostis Hatzidakis on Tuesday announced that he intends to table an amendment in Parliament in the coming days on the timetable of the deliberations with the social partners and experts regarding the minimum wage.

The government is examining the prospect of raising the minimum monthly wage to 780 euros from the current €713 level to offset rising inflation. The decision is expected to be made within the first fortnight of March, at the height of the pre-election period.

Wage growth in the Eurozone is expected to be "very strong" over the next few quarters, but real wages are still likely to decline given the sharp rise in inflation, according to an article in the European Central Bank's economic bulletin released on Monday. Reuters.