Hours and hours you feel that some people talk to you about a very nice country where everything is going well, the wages are increasing, accuracy is seasonal, everyone wants to invest there and (as Savvopoulos used to say): «Everything is far away and happy and the snow falls from above, the couples swirl further away and my girlfriend sparkles with joy». Then you realize they are talking about Greece and you look for a corner to bang your head because you live «elsewhere»...
Somewhere in there you find some official data on today's reality. So according to statistics from the EFKA, the average monthly regular earnings of full-time employees in the private sector are 14% lower, compared to 2008! Their average salary last May was €1,274.74 (gross) when 14 years ago, based on the same statistical recording methodology, it was €1,478.43 (gross).
Also, one in three part-time employees (751,235 workers) had in May 21 average monthly earnings of 408.88 euros (340 euros net), which places them below the poverty line (provided, of course, that the PDAs submitted by employers with the employees’ contributions correspond to reality and do not hide the widespread phenomenon of the indicated work).
Of course, on May 1, 2022, increases in the basic salary of 7.5% were also given. At the same time, however, the Eurostat inflation estimate for May in Greece reached 10.7% (instead of 8.1% in the Eurozone). There are still many elements that can and should be taken into account, since inflation does not hit a worker with a salary of EUR 1,000 and a professional with multiple income.
What is certain is that we are living in reality and not in a parallel world. We all find that our children and their friends (most of them with studies in Greece and abroad) find it difficult to find a job with a decent salary and professional prospects. Many young people leave abroad for something better.
We all get hurt when we find that we spent a fortune to educate our children and they go to offer their skills in other countries.
All of us are trying to figure out what we did wrong and we are handing over to the new generation a country that is not theirs. Attractive as a workplace.
We all feel guilty because in a large part of the younger generation (fortunately not all) the ambitions are «clipped» and morale is low.
So let them not believe that we can be «fooled» by all kinds of statesmen, presenting a picture very different from the one we live in. They must understand that there is much we can «swallow» as far as we are concerned. But we will never be able to compromise with what destroys the country's prospects, namely the young generation.
We do not want to be sold either «holistic approaches» or «a wonderful quality of life». Let them start with something «simpler»: proper jobs, decently paid.
Journalist, member of ESIEA, member of the Board of Directors of R/S Athens 984
