The report, released ahead of November’s World Summit for Social Development in Doha, highlights global disparities but offers sobering insights into Greece’s own position within the broader landscape.
The ILO notes that progress in narrowing inequality worldwide has stalled, despite advances in poverty reduction and productivity growth. Globally, the richest one percent controls 38 percent of wealth, while women still earn, on average, only three-quarters of men’s wages. At current rates, the gender pay gap will take a century to close.
In Greece, the structural imbalances are particularly stark. Women employed in the private sector earn at least €200 less than the average male full-time wage, underscoring the persistence of gender-based inequality even in high-income economies. The prevalence of the “working poor” is among the highest in Europe: nearly one in ten workers is deprived of at least seven essential goods and services considered necessary for a dignified standard of living. For many, the deprivation is not abstract — almost three in ten Greeks cannot afford to spend even a small sum of money each week on themselves.
Collective bargaining, a cornerstone of labor protection across much of the Eurozone, remains weak in Greece. Fewer than two in ten workers are covered by active collective agreements, leaving the majority of employees without the protections enjoyed by their counterparts in neighboring economies.
Perhaps most striking is the imbalance between wages and profits in the Greek economy. Labor’s share of GDP stands at just 35 percent, the second-lowest in Europe, while profits represent more than half of national income — far above the EU average of around 41 percent. This widening gap, particularly since 2019, reflects a growing divergence between those who earn their living through wages and those who benefit from capital.
The ILO warns that without deliberate redistribution and policies that place social justice at the center of economic decision-making, such disparities will deepen. For Greece, this means addressing not only income inequality but also the structural weaknesses of its labor market, from weak union coverage to persistent gender pay gaps.
