Working poor account for 9.7% of employed people aged 18 to 64 in Greece. The corresponding figure across the 27 European Union member states stood at 8.3% in 2025. Greece therefore remains above the European average, although the gap has narrowed compared to 2009, when the indicator in Greece reached 13.7%, and 10.1% in 2019. This trajectory indicates a clear long-term decline, but not full convergence with the EU-27 average.
Greece continues to face a serious problem of in-work poverty, without however being the most extreme case among the countries examined.
These data come from a report by the Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (INE GSEE), which explains that the “in-work poverty risk” indicator focuses on people who are employed and therefore allows an assessment of whether participation in the labour market is sufficient to protect against the risk of poverty.
A comparison with population-weighted country groupings reveals a complex picture. In 2025, the in-work poverty rate in Central and Eastern European countries stands at 7.7%, at 10.5% in the broader regional grouping, and at 10.2% in the Balkans. Greece is therefore in a worse position than the EU-27 and Central and Eastern European countries, but slightly better than the broader regional average and the Balkans.
At country level, Greece records lower rates than Spain (11.2%), Bulgaria (11.8%), Romania (10.7%), Estonia (10.5%), and Italy (10.2%), but higher than Portugal (8.6%), Poland (8.5%), the Czech Republic (4.1%), and Slovenia (5.5%). This overview allows for a more balanced comparative assessment of the indicator; more specifically, it shows that Greece continues to face a serious in-work poverty problem, without being the most extreme case among the countries examined.
Comparison with other EU countries
The picture changes significantly when in-work poverty risk is examined by type of employment. In full-time employment, the rate in Greece remains at 9.1% in 2025, although it is significantly lower than in 2009 (13.0%). Greece is above the EU average, but also above Central and Eastern European countries, where the rate stands at 7.0%, and the Balkans, where it is 8.4%. It is also very close to the broader regional average (9.0%). This finding is particularly important, as it highlights that even full-time employment in Greece does not function as a sufficient safeguard against the risk of poverty.
The problem is even more pronounced in part-time employment. In 2025, the in-work poverty risk rate for part-time workers in Greece reaches 21.4%, compared with 13.5% in the EU-27 (Chart 3.17). The figure is lower than in 2009 (26.9%) and marginally higher than in 2019 (20.9%). This reflects the increased vulnerability of workers in flexible forms of employment with limited working hours and lower income. Greece is above Central and Eastern European countries (13%) and the broader regional group (17.4%). However, it is significantly lower than the Balkans, where the corresponding rate reaches 44.8%, mainly due to extremely high levels in Romania and Bulgaria.
