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Q: Earnings distribution in Greece (URGENT!) ( No Answer,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Earnings distribution in Greece (URGENT!)
Category: Business and Money > Employment
Asked by: christophem-ga
List Price: $80.00
Posted: 25 Jul 2006 02:29 PDT
Expires: 24 Aug 2006 02:29 PDT
Question ID: 749262
Into what percentile of salaried workers does someone earning EUR
80,000 per annum in Greece falls?
(top 25% is not good enough.  Is it top 5%? Top 2%?)

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 25 Jul 2006 08:28 PDT
christophem-ga,

I'm not sure of the level of detail you're seeking, but there do not
appear to be any reliable, up-to-date statistics on salary
distributions in Greece.

However, I can tell you that a salary of 80,000 euros would put you
close to the top 5% of earners in the US, so it certainly seems
reasonable to suppose that in Greece, this would be even a more select
group...perhaps the top 1%.

Is that sort of information helpful to you at all?

pafalafa-ga

Request for Question Clarification by keystroke-ga on 25 Jul 2006 10:05 PDT
I too would go along with Pafalafa's comment and say this would be at
least the top 1 or 2%. there are 10.4 million people in Greece.

The following paragraph is taken from this website

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/greececor3.htm

"The main industries of Greece include textiles, chemicals, metals,
wine, food processing, tobacco, cement, oil refineries. Its major
trading partners are Germany, Italy, France, the U.S., the U.K. and
the Netherlands. The labor force is allocated in services (45%),
industry (28%) and agriculture (27%). According to official
measurements, the per capita income is around $9,000 (or 70% of the EU
average), but according to many Greek economists who study tax evasion
(a phenomenon which has assumed giant proportions in Greece), the real
income is at least double that figure. This becomes quite obvious when
observing the standard of living in Greece."

As you can see, for greece 80000 Euros per year would be at least 2%.

Request for Question Clarification by keystroke-ga on 25 Jul 2006 10:13 PDT
To further enforce what i said the following PDF document gives a very
good look into the Labour Market of Greece.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/hellenicObservatory/pdf/Papadimitriou.MGSA2003-paper.pdf

"Labour costs in Greece remained the second lowest in the European
Union (ahead of Portugal). In 1999 the average Greek wage was 65% of
the EU average, where as for industrial workers the share fell to
under 50%. Despite some moderate pay increases during the second half
of the decade, labour costs per unit of production in 1998 had
decreased by 15% since 1990 (Kouzis, 2001). In 2000, wage costs
accounted for 76% of total labour costs as compared with the EU
average of 73%. In the same year the ratio of total taxes on employed
labour2 in Greece was only marginally higher than the EU average
(38.5% and 36.7% respectively) (Commission Compendium 2002). Over the
last decade labour productivity has consistently ranked the second
worse in the European Union (ahead of Portugal). In 1998 the
productivity rate (per hour worked) of the Greek workforce was just
over 50% of that of their American counterparts and less than 70% of
the EU average (Commission, (2001)79 final)."

From this you can see that on AVERAGE Greeks earn 73% of what the rest
of Europeans earn in any year. This makes the 80000 wage bracket in
Greece a very select few. I would be happy in making the claim of 1 -
2% without feeling i could be underestimating the percentage.

Request for Question Clarification by keystroke-ga on 25 Jul 2006 10:15 PDT
I apologise for my mistake on the previous answer I gave, I meant 65%
not 73% for the average way of the Greeks. This further enforces the
fact that Greeks on average earn less than their European
counterparts.

Clarification of Question by christophem-ga on 25 Jul 2006 10:42 PDT
pafalafa-ga, keystroke-ga,

I am basically looking for a reliable, third-party, independent source
which provides a solid basis to argue the point. An inferrence based
on anecdotal evidence is not satisfactory.
Alternatively, short of finding direct eveidence for Greece, an
indication that EUR 80,000 p.a. gets you into the top [ ]% in (say)
Italy would be a good start.

Good luck!

C

Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 26 Jul 2006 17:13 PDT
christophem-ga,

Would you be interested in figures for Spain?

If so please check out table 5 and figure 7
http://www.etla.fi/edwin/publ/papers/spdf141.pdf

Does this help you?

Thanks, 
Bobbie7

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 26 Jul 2006 21:34 PDT
Hello christophem-ga,

It?s amazing how difficult it is to find exactly the information you
need. I found a Euromonitor country report for Greece that has this
information available for a hefty fee.

I?ve also found lots of economic reports on the gap between rich and
poor in all the EU countries. One of these has a table that shows
household income distribution by deciles for Ireland. In 2003 the top
10th of households had an income of 84,559.78 euros per year.

Will this meet your needs? In order to help you assess the value of
this figure I?m including some links that compare the economies of EU
countries to see if the Ireland figures are comparable to what you
would expect for Greece.

Please let me know if this will be a satisfactory answer. I look
forward to your clarification.

~ czh ~


http://www.cori.ie/justice/soc_issues/spec_issues/inc_dist.htm
CORI -- Conference of Religious of Ireland -- Justice Commission
Income Distribution

Table 3.14: Amounts of disposable income, by decile in 2003

Top decile: Annual disposable income  ?84,559.78
Source: Eurostat, Statistics in Focus 12/2004: 5 and 16/2004: 9; CSO (2005a:5) 

==

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gr.html
Greece
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ei.html
Ireland

==

http://www.forfas.ie/ncc/reports/ncc_annual_05/ch02/ch02_01.html
Annual Competitiveness Report 2005
Figure 12: Regional Income Distribution

==

http://www.euromonitor.com/Greece
http://www.euromonitor.com/Consumer_Lifestyles_in_Greece
Consumer Lifestyles in Greece
GBP325.00 
Mar 2005

8.3 Number of Households by Disposable Income Bracket
Table 102 Number of Households by Disposable Income Bracket: 1990/1995/2000-2003
Table 103 Number of Households by Disposable Income Bracket (%
Analysis): 1990/1995/2000-2003
Table 104 Number of Households by Disposable Income Bracket (Growth):
1990-2003/2000-2003

Clarification of Question by christophem-ga on 27 Jul 2006 13:26 PDT
bobbie7:
these are very interesting statistics.  What a shame that under the
heading "International Comparison", they seem to be carefully avoiding
Greece...


czh: Ireland does not provide as good a comparison with Greece as
Spain does.  Ireland has now become one of the richest country in
Europe, thanks to liberalization and a flexible labor market.  I think
Southern Europe (and in particular Spain and Portugal) remain the most
directly comparable countries.

C

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 27 Jul 2006 13:38 PDT
I was able to find these 2005 statistics for wages in Greece:


==========

Position...........................Monthly salary (euros)

Labourers..........................26.41-49.00

Clerks.....................................730

Secretaries..........................640-2,270

Specialised mechanics................800-1,115

Foremen............................1,175-1,580

Managers (middle) .................2,150-7,450

Managing directors................9,050-16,800

==========

It's not expressed as percentiles, but it does give a good and current
overview of salary ranges in Greece.

Does this help?

pafalafa-ga

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 31 Jul 2006 16:57 PDT
Hello again christophem-ga,

Are you familiar with Eurostats? It looks like the Eurostat Yearbook
2005 might be worth purchasing. It?s only EUR 30.00 and it offers 310
pages of statistics on the European Union. It looks like it might give
you the information you need. I?m hoping that accessing this book
might answer your question. The website offers tons of other
statitistics as well. What do you think?

All the best.

~ czh ~


http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1090,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
Eurostat -- Statistical Office of the European Communities

Europe in figures - Eurostat yearbook 2005
Paper publication (310 pp.) EUR 30.00 

The statistical guide to Europe! 
In order to focus on the major questions concerning the development of
the European Union, Eurostat provides a practical statistical guide
Europe in figures ? Eurostat yearbook 2005 containing essential,
accurate and recent information on the current situation in Europe.
This yearbook, which presents Europe in figures, offers an outline of
the data provided by the statistical office of the European
Communities.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-NK-05-012/EN/KS-NK-05-012-EN.PDF
Gross Earnings in Europe: 
Main Results of the Structure of Earnings Survey 2002

http://europa.eu/abouteuropa/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/geninfo/info/index_en.htm
EUROPA is the portal site of the European Union (http://europa.eu). It
provides up-to-date coverage of European Union affairs and essential
information on European integration. Users can also consult all
legislation currently in force or under discussion, access the
websites of each of the EU institutions and find out about the
policies administered by the European Union under the powers devolved
to it by the Treaties.

Request for Question Clarification by silviares-ga on 17 Aug 2006 14:57 PDT
Hello christophem-ga

I have official documentation that for Greece in 1999 an income of
2934 montly euros (around 36000 yearly) and above was in the top x%
(with x < 10).

I also know the inflation rates up to the end of 2004 so we can
calculate that  in 2005 an income of around 41500 Euros and above was
in the same top x%.

Do you want me to disclose this  data to you or is this still not good enough ?

silviares
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