My data is better than yours
Has the purchasing power of Greeks slipped below the Bulgarians’, or is it slightly below the EU average and improving? Depends on how to frame the question and what data you use.
A study by a researcher at the Center of Planning and Economic Research, published in June in KEPE’s “Economic Developments” bulletin, and which concluded that the Greek hourly wage’s purchasing power parity has dropped below Bulgaria’s, ignited a delayed firestorm about the failures of the government’s policies.
The author, Vlasis Missos, has found that real hourly wages in Greece have dropped 23.7%, the biggest such drop in the EU and, from a ranking of 8-9 spots from the bottom, Greece has slipped to second to last. The Greek hourly wage’s purchasing power parity matched Bulgaria’s in 2020 and has fallen behind since.
Another KEPE article, by researcher Ioannis Holezas, published in the same bulletin, concludes that, from 2009 to 2023, average domestic household income has increased only marginally and only for childless households, while in ones with children purchasing power has decreased.
The Finance Ministry countered Monday with data from the EU’s statistics authority, Eurostat, that show Greece in 16th place among the 27 EU members in terms of households’ net disposable income.
The ministry explained the hourly wage findings by the fact that working hours have increased in Greece three times faster than in the EU since 2020.
According to the Finance Ministry, citing Eurostat data, over the past five years, the time the present conservative government has ruled, the average wage increased 20.2% and the minimum wage 27.7%, while the consumer price index has risen 13.4%.
Real per capita income in Greece has increased 7.7%, more than double the EU average (3.3%) and even more relative to the average of the 20 eurozone economies (2.3%).
At the same time, the Finance Ministry continues, the government has cut a number of taxes and has “positively intervened” to shore up household incomes. Net disposable income has, as a result, increased for all types of households: Eurostat data show that, from 2019 to 2023, annual earnings in terms of purchasing power rose between 12.3% and 15.7%, depending on household type.
