IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/jns/jbstat/v245y2025i1-2p79-111n1005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Minimum Wage in Greece: A Review of Institutional Features, Developments and Effects Between 1975 and 2023

Author

Listed:
  • Nicolitsas Daphne

    (Department of Economics, 37777 University of Crete , Rethimno, Greece)

Abstract

This paper takes a historical perspective and assesses the evolution of the institutional features in setting the minimum wage in Greece between 1975 and 2023. It also evaluates developments regarding the minimum wage level, its bite and alignment with productivity. The paper reviews the limited available empirical literature on the association of the minimum wage with labour market outcomes (average wages, employment, inequality). It presents new estimates of the elasticity of average wages to the minimum wage. One of the paper’s key points is that the minimum wage setting mechanism has changed over time as the economic environment has changed. Reviewing the evolution of the minimum wage over time to evaluate whether the minimum wage follows productivity developments and whether the minimum wage bites leads to the second and third takeaways of the paper. The minimum wage follows productivity developments over the longer term but not always in the short term. The bite of the minimum wage is high and appears to be higher when government intervention in setting the minimum wage is stronger. As for the impact of the minimum wage on average wages, the new estimates of the elasticity of the average to the minimum wage the paper provides, use more precisely measured wage rates, which show a high elasticity of average to minimum wages. Finally, the review of the existing literature on the employment effects of the minimum wage shows that, as in other countries, the results are mixed with modest negative or no effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolitsas Daphne, 2025. "The Minimum Wage in Greece: A Review of Institutional Features, Developments and Effects Between 1975 and 2023," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 245(1-2), pages 79-111.
    • Handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:245:y:2025:i:1-2:p:79-111:n:1005
    DOI: 10.1515/jbnst-2023-0041
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2023-0041
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jbnst-2023-0041?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    minimum wage; wages; bargaining; institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:jns:jbstat:v:245:y:2025:i:1-2:p:79-111:n:1005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.