One million Greeks have taken on more than one job to make ends meet
Greeks are increasingly being forced to do a second job unless they are the boss themselves, a survey by the Labor Institute of the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE) has found. Those holding down more than one job (either simultaneously or in two different workplaces within the same year) amount to about 20 percent of the country’s work force, that is about a million people. «This mainly refers to the productive ages between 30 and 55 years, as it is rare for a 25-year-old, for instance, to have two jobs,» Yiannis Kouzis, head of the institute’s industrial relations department and assistant professor at Panteion University, explained to Kathimerini. Widespread This phenomenon cuts across all sectors, and the reasons for it are overwhelmingly economic, as salaries here remain very low. For example, a Greek has to work 92 percent more time than a German to obtain the same goods, while the minimum wage level in Greece is just 50 percent of the average minimum wage in the old 15 EU member states. «The need for two or more jobs is also linked with the fact that our requirements have multiplied, as the consumption standards of our society have changed,» noted Kouzis.
