Greek workers suffered highest real-wage fall in Europe last year

Real wages in Greece fell 3.5 percent in 2017 after a 1.3 percent increase in 2016, making it the largest decline in Europe last year, according to data released by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday.

This was also the largest decline in Greek real wages since a whopping 9.3 percent drop in 2013.

At the same time, the average real wage in the country fell 3.1 percent over the past ten years (2008 to 2017) – the steepest drop in Europe – and experienced an average decline of 3.5 percent in 2000-2017.

The ILO data for Europe was not encouraging either, as real wages in the region remained stagnant in 2017 and grew at a rate of only 1.8 percent at a global level, the lowest rate since 2008.