A survey carried out by the Nikos Poulantzas Institute has discovered that 72% of Greek workers say that their income is not sufficient to cover their living needs without relying on other sources of financing. This number shows an increase of 12% compared to one year ago.
The survey, which was conducted alongside the company Prorata, aims to reveal the challenges facing the Greek workforce and shows a particular deepening of the problem over the last year due to international cost of living pressures.
On average 40% of salaries are spent on housing, 11.5% on energy, 7.9% on other bills such as for phones and 20% for food. The survey results, which were published by Greek website Iediseis, also serve to show that women are facing greater financial challenges than men, with 83.9% of women saying their salaries are not enough to cover their needs, whilst only 63.4% of men say the same.
Overall, a staggering 98.1% of Greeks agree that workers wages should increase in the country, but only just over half (52.6%) believe that a salary increase will actually occur in the next five years.
The long-term concern is that many new people who previously would not have considered themselves to be poor are now facing major budgetary issues. These people will not be able to be dealt with within the framework of the welfare state, meaning a major weakness in the Greek economy.
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