In the spirit of the key minimum wage provision in Greek law and taking into account the state of the Greek economy and its prospects for growth, the Ministry of Economy (Labour and Social Security) have increased the statutory minimum wage for 2025, 2026 and 2027, effective from 1 April 2025.
For full-time employees (also known as ‘white collar workers’ under Greek law), the minimum monthly wage is now set at EUR 880, while for ‘blue collar workers’, the minimum daily wage is set at EUR 39.30. This represents gross increases of EUR 50 for employees and EUR 2.23 for blue collar workers, which corresponds to a percentage increase of 6.02%.
The increase in the minimum wage has also resulted in the following adjustments to labour and social benefits:
The increase also applies to public sector employees. They will see an increase of EUR 30 to their statutory wages pursuant to the applicable salary scales.
Furthermore, the increase to the minimum salary impacts the classification criteria for managerial employees. Individuals are presumed to be managerial employees if they:
While this core criteria remains the same, the level of salary that individuals must earn to meet the criteria has increased following the introduction of the new minimum wage.
Finally, the increase in the minimum wage marks an increase in the cost of buy-out of notional years from EUR 166 to EUR 176 per month. This is relevant for those who wish to proceed with the buy-out of years of insurance to meet their pension requirements.
The increase to the minimum wage has triggered important changes throughout the Greek employment system that employers need to be aware of and comply with.
Discover more about compensation and benefits in our Global HR Law Guide