Jobs increase accompanied by salary drop

One in two private sector workers collects a gross salary of up to 800 euros a month, while 422,150 employees, or 22.13 percent of all 1,907,945 registered in the Labor Ministry’s Ergani database in October, work part-time or shifts for less than 500 euros a month.

Furthermore, according to the weekly working hours declared by employers, almost one in three workers (31.4 percent) is employed for up to 35 hours per week, pointing to growth in the share of those working for fewer hours than those provided for by full-time employment (40 hours/week).

Ministry data show that private sector employment has increased by 83,508 jobs this year from 2017, amounting to an annual rise of 4.58 percent from last year’s 1,824,437.

Out of the net gain of 83,508 jobs, 60,117 (72 percent) concerned full-time employment and 23,391 (28 percent) were in part-time work. Full-timers accounted for 68.6 percent of workers, up from 68.44 percent in 2017.

However, the increase in jobs has been accompanied by a major decline in wages, as almost 43 percent of employees receive salaries below the old minimum wage of 700 euros/month that had applied in 2012, when it was slashed by 22 percent.