ATHENS – Greece’s economy is growing enough again to allow raising the minimum wage to 830 euros ($920.73) as well as tax benefits for businesses to help new parents and struggling young households and most pensioners will see increases.

Labor and Social Security Minister Niki Kerameus announced the measures at a news conference in Thessaloniki which is hosting the annual international fair, detailing the promises made by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

She said the minimum wage that was 650 euros ($721.05) when the Radical Left SYRIZA was in power will be hiked a third time by the New Democracy government as of April 1, 2025, an increase of 27.7 percent since 2019.

The average wage during that time has also gone from 1036 euros ($1,149.25) to 1,250 euros ($1,386.64,) up 2.8 percent but is still below the European Union average although plans are to lift the minimum wage to 950 euros ($1,035.84) and average salary to 1,500 euros ($1,663.97) by 2027, when elections will be held.

Kerameus also announced reductions in social security contributions to put more money in the pockets of workers and said that businesses providing non-salary benefits up to 5,000 euros ($5,546.57) to workers within the first year of a child’s birth will be exempt from taxes on those, and each dependent child.

Most pensioners – apart from those with a so-called “personal difference” who have largely been left out – will get increases of 2.2-2.5 percent as of Jan. 1, 2025, affecting more than two million recipients.

That would be the third consecutive year of pension hikes for most under New Democracy rule and the pensioners with a personal difference will get a single bonus instead of a monthly raise, as will those not otherwise eligible.

But taxes and deductions combined with high inflation are undercutting the modest pension hikes, said To Vima, adding that some 400,000 beneficiaries pay a double and arguably unfair tax through the solidarity contribution.

The increase has also boosted some pensioners into higher tax brackets, Greeks paying among the highest in the European Union, up to 45 percent of their income while many rich hide their money in secret foreign bank accounts.

A 6 percent deduction is applied to the initial gross amount of each pension for healthcare services while the personal difference system means more than 770,000 who retired before 2016 won’t be helped until that gap is erased.