Average Full-Time Salary Exceeds €1,500 Ahead of Schedule

In 2025, the average full-time salary in Greece’s private sector surpassed €1,500—reaching €1,516—marking a significant milestone achieved one year earlier than the government’s target. This growth stems from the large-scale upward mobility of hundreds of thousands of workers into higher pay brackets. According to the annual ERGANI system report, the average full-time monthly wage rose from €1,478 in 2024. Concurrently, the share of full-time employment climbed to 78.5%, up by 2.1 percentage points. Wage distribution analysis reveals that approximately 280,000 employees moved into salary tiers above €1,000 in 2025 compared to 2024—a clear sign of broad-based and sustained income improvement. Notably, 63.5% of private-sector workers (1.56 million people) now earn over €1,000 monthly, up from just 36.3% (720,000) in 2019. Within six years, the number of private employees earning more than €1,000 surged by 842,000—more than doubling—despite pandemic-related economic disruptions. Today, the two largest wage groups are those earning €1,001–€1,200 and €1,201–€1,500 monthly—totaling 992,000 workers—representing Greece’s core middle-income strata. In contrast, in 2019, the most common wage bands were below €500 (406,400 workers) and €501–€600 (over 216,000). Lower-wage categories have contracted significantly: between 2019 and 2025, the number of workers earning under €1,000 fell by nearly 1.23 million, while those earning up to €500 dropped by over 223,000—a 56% decline—reflecting both reduced part-time work and steady wage growth. Beyond rising wages, ERGANI data also highlight robust expansion in salaried employment, contributing to Greece’s strong economic growth rates.