The government’s target for 2027 is a 950 euro gross minimum wage (up from 920 euros gross) and a 1,500 euro average gross wage in the private sector, at a time when real wages remain under pressure as rising living costs eat into nominal pay increases.
Economic growth, as INE GSEE (the labor institute of Greece’s largest union federation) points out, hasn’t translated into a real improvement in living standards or working conditions despite gains in some core economic indicators, while Greeks’ purchasing power stands at just 68% of the European average.
Workers’ real income, in fact, remains stuck below pre financial crisis levels.
The Government’s Minimum Wage Target
The government’s target is for the minimum wage to reach 950 euros by April 1, 2027, though an earlier payout date (due to elections) isn’t ruled out, nor is a bigger increase.
It’s worth noting that on April 1, 2026, the new minimum wage was set at 920 euros, a 4.55% increase from the year before. At the same time, seniority based pay steps are set to bring 10% raises to tens of thousands of workers’ minimum pay, since January 1, 2027 marks the completion of the first three year period since 2024, when wage progression tied to years of service in the private sector’s minimum pay scale was unfrozen.
With the added seniority increase completed over the 2024-2027 period, the minimum wage for a single worker first hired on January 1, 2024 will automatically rise by 92 euros starting January 1, 2027, reaching 1,012 euros.
That said, hitting the government’s target of a 1,500 euro average private sector wage by 2027 (up from 1,362 euros gross and 1,205 euros net in 2025) is turning into a tough bet.
That means that over the coming year, private sector raises will need to significantly outpace inflation to make up lost ground, especially since even the rise in the average wage doesn’t appear to be trickling down evenly across other pay brackets.
The key to higher pay, it’s noted, is expected to be the new framework strengthening collective bargaining agreements, which boost not just wages but also working conditions like allowances and benefits, through unified negotiation. The goal is for collective agreement coverage to reach 80%, up from roughly 30% today. The first concrete results of the recent National Social Agreement on Collective Labor Agreements are already visible.
More than 400,000 workers are already covered under the terms of these agreements, significantly widening the scope of collective bargaining. New collective labor agreements have notably been signed across a range of sectors, including tourism and food service, confectionery, bakery, and for food technologists and scientists.
Wages: What the Data Shows
At the same time, according to scientific studies, the following trends are showing up in the labor market:
1. Employee social security contributions and income tax significantly reduce the gross wage. The net amount that remains is further squeezed by rising inflation, straining income even before it’s paid out.
2. Real wages remain under pressure, as the rising cost of living absorbs nominal increases. The average real annual wage rose by just 0.3% between 2019 and 2025, and remains 1.3% below 2021 levels. Meanwhile, pay in key sectors remains very low. In education, public health, social care, food service, and retail, real hourly wages remain noticeably below 2009 levels.
3. Although real GDP kept growing in 2025, per capita income remains noticeably below the European Union average.
4. The average private sector wage rose just 1.5% in 2025, leaving workers with lower purchasing power.
