POPULATION
10.4m
CURRENCY
€ (EUR)
CAPITAL CITY
Athens
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Known for its ancient history, iconic monuments, and stunning beaches, Greece is a popular destination for tourism and cultural exploration. From the bustling streets of Athens to the serene landscapes of the Greek islands, Greece offers a wealth of cultural and natural attractions.
Greece's economy is diverse, with key sectors including tourism, shipping, and agriculture. The country is a major exporter of olive oil, wine, and agricultural products. Greece's growing economy and improving infrastructure make it an attractive destination for foreign investment.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. We do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this content. It is not legal advice and shall not be relied on as such.
According to Greece's labor law, only part-time contracts must be written. However, the employer is required to inform the employee of the following information in writing within 1 week from the beginning of the work:
As per Greek case law, restrictive contract covenants are valid if reasonable, and employers have a justified and unprotected professional interest. Such restrictions must be limited in duration, geographical area, and type of activity. Reasonable time is considered 1 to 2 years. The clause must apply to a specific kind of activity. Employees must be compensated for their commitment to avoid engaging in a particular activity.
In Greece, written employment contracts are not mandatory. The agreement of both parties is sufficient to establish an employment relationship. A contract can a written or verbal agreement based on which a certain person, called an employee, undertakes the obligation to provide their services for a certain or indefinite period of time to an employer, against an agreed monthly salary or daily wage.
Greece's labor law offers no provisions or guidance on implied contracts. The industry's best practice is to be cautious of implied contracts by frequently utilizing or adapting written agreements.
Greece's legal weekly working hours were set at 45 hours on a 5-day work week and 48 hours on a 6-day working week system. The legal daily hours were set at 9 hours, while during the 6-day period, it remained at 8 hours. Employees working greater than this number of hours are eligible for overtime. In 2023, the Greek parliament passed Law 5053/2023 that allows employers of companies operating 24 hours to unilaterally decide whether a worker should work for a 6th day. The law requires the employee to be paid 40% overtime for the 6th day.
Including overtime, an employee's working hours must not exceed 45 hours per week for employees on a 5-day workweek and 48 hours per week for employees on a 6-day workweek. The weekly working time of the employees may not exceed 48 hours on average over 4 months, including overtime. Minors under 16 or still at school cannot be employed for more than 6 hours per day or 30 hours a week. Persons between the ages of 16 and 17 cannot work for more than 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week.
The minimum rest period in any 24-hour period must be at least 11 uninterrupted hours. Employees are entitled to a minimum uninterrupted rest period of 24 hours per 7-day period.
Telework must be agreed upon between employer and employee upon hiring or by amending the employment contract. Telework can also apply for public health protection or upon the employee's request in case of a documented health risk.
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Greece's labor law provides that the probationary period established within the framework of a definite or indefinite contract may not exceed 6 months
Unless the employer and employee agree otherwise, employment contracts can be terminated without notice or severance during probation. However, an employee may still have recourse if they are dismissed unfairly.
According to Greek labor law, the first 12 months of an indefinite employment agreement, counted from the date on which the agreement comes into force, are considered to be a probationary period. During this period, either party may terminate the employment relationship without notice and without severance pay, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
After the first 12 months, the employer must give the following notice period before the termination of the employment contract:
An employer who gives an employee written notice according to the above pays only half of the statutory severance pay due to the dismissed employee.
A notice period is not required for fixed-term contracts.
According to Greek labor law, an employer can terminate an indefinite employment agreement of more than 12 months by giving the employee prior written notice. Specific notice periods between 1 and 4 months are required, depending on the employee's length of service with the employer (see the "Notice of Dismissal" section for more information). In the case of indefinite employment agreements terminated by the employer, the severance pay is calculated depending on the length of service with the employer. For employees who complete 17 years in service with the same employer, additional compensation is paid that increases by 1 monthly salary for each additional year of service up to 12 monthly salaries, provided the monthly salary does not exceed EUR 2,000.
In case of dismissal (for any reason, including redundancies) of a blue-collar worker, severance pay varies according to the length of service, from 5 days to 165 days' wages, regardless of whether the employer complies with the statutory notice period.
Effective April 1, 2025, the minimum wage in Greece is EUR 880 (euros) per month for white-collar workers and EUR 39.30 per day for blue-collar workers.
The law states that salary must be paid regularly, determined by individual employment contracts.
According to Greece's labor law, work done beyond 40 hours a week is considered overtime. It is paid as follows:
Overtime is limited to a daily maximum of 3 hours per day and an annual maximum of 150 hours per year. If urgent and exceptional activities require the employee to work for more than 150 hours of overtime in a year, they are entitled to 140% of their normal wage rate. In the event that we have overtime work without meeting the formal and substantive conditions of the relevant provisions mentioned above or in excess of the overtime ceiling, then it is illegal. In this case, employees are entitled to 220% of their normal wage rate as compensation.
In the case of work performed during Sundays and the days established by law as non-working holidays, the daily wage must be at least 175% of the normal daily wage.
Employees are to be paid their normal wages when they take annual leave.
The following types of visas are available in Greece:
Foreign nationals who wish to work in Greece must obtain a residence permit and a work visa. The foreign national must submit the employment contract showing that their remuneration is equal to Greece's minimum wage. The residence permit is issued for 3 years at a time. It can be renewed for 2 or 3 years if the following conditions are met:
Population 10.4m
Population in total, including all residents regardless of legal status © 2024 - WBG • EUROSTAT
81%
Urban Population
86.3%
Internet access
88.6%
Banking access
100%
Mobile phone access
Population: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Population Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wpp/, publisher: UN Population Division; Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices, National Statistical Offices, uri: https://unstats.un.org/home/nso_sites/, publisher: National Statistical Offices; Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, Eurostat (ESTAT), uri: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database?node_code=earn_ses_monthly, publisher: Eurostat; Population and Vital Statistics Report (various years), United Nations (UN), uri: https://unstats.un.org, publisher: UN Statistics Division
Urban Population: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Urbanization Prospects, United Nations (UN), uri: https://population.un.org/wup/, publisher: UN Population Division
Internet access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, ITU (ITU), uri: https://datahub.itu.int/
Banking access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • FINDEX, WBG (WB), uri: https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex
Mobile phone access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, ITU (ITU)
In Greece, every employee on a fixed-term or a permanent contract is entitled to annual paid leave from the beginning of their employment. This leave is to be granted by the employer on a pro-rata basis, depending on how long that employer has employed the employee. The proportion is calculated based on 20 working days’ leave for a 5-working-day week or 24 working days’ leave for a 6-working-day week, corresponding to 12 months’ continuous employment.
The employer must grant the employee the correct proportion of the above regular leave by the end of the first calendar year in which the employee was hired. During the second calendar year, the employee is entitled to take regular paid annual leave in portions, according to the length of service. During leave, the employee is entitled to their normal pay and benefits. Leave is increased by 1 working day for each year of employment, beyond the first year, up to 26 working days or up to 22 days if the employee operates on a 5-working-day week basis.
During the third and subsequent calendar years, the employee is entitled to take all their annual leave at any time during the year.
Greece's labor law grants employees monthly, long-term sick leave for a maximum of 6 months, as follows:
In addition, employees are entitled to short-term unpaid sick leave for up to 8 days per year. An employee must have a medical certificate to take more than 2 continuous leave days.
The sickness benefit is 50% of the employees' salaries. The employer must pay at least half the wages for the first three days of sick leave. The Social Security Institute of Greece pays the rest of the benefits.
According to Greek labor law, the duration of maternity leave is set at 17 weeks for private-sector employees. Of this 17 week period, 8 weeks must be granted to the worker before confinement and 9 weeks after confinement. If the worker gives birth prematurely, the remaining maternity leave is to be granted after confinement, so that the maternity leave amounts to a total of 17 weeks.
During maternity leave, employees are paid 100% of earnings by the state social insurance fund, up to a cap set by the social insurance fund. To receive full maternity benefits, the mother must have worked 200 working days during the previous 2 years. After the basic maternity leave, mothers are entitled to another special leave of 6 months, during which time the state will provide a benefit equal to the statutory minimum wage.
Greek labor law grants male employees a paid paternity leave of 14 days upon their child's birth. This leave is granted in whole or in part according to the employee's request as follows: either a) the employee receives 2 days leave before the expected date of delivery, in order to meet the needs associated with pregnancy and childbirth, in which case in this case, the remaining 12 days are granted, in whole or in part, directly due to the birth of the child, within 30 days from the date of birth, or b) all the days of leave after the date of birth are granted. Every working father is entitled to leave, without any conditions and regardless of his marital status.
The legal retirement age in Greece is:
The monthly pension is a sum of national pension and contributory pension. The state budget finances the national pension, while the contributory pension corresponds to the payment of insurance contributions and is calculated based on pensionable earnings, insurance period, and replacement rate.
The full amount of the national pension is EUR 426.17 (euros) (when at least 20 years of insurance and 40 years of permanent and legal residence in Greece have been completed before applying for a retirement pension), reduced in proportion to the years of contribution and residence.
Effective January 1, 2024, the maximum monthly earnings for contributions are EUR 7,373.53.
Greece's social security insurance scheme covers benefits for survivors of a deceased insured person, including the widow, widower, or children of the insured individual. The following conditions must be met to be eligible for this pension:
The widow must have been married to the deceased for at least 6 months before their death unless the death was caused by an accident at work or an occupational disease, there is a minor child, or if the widow was pregnant before the death. The amount of pension paid to a widow/er of a deceased is 50% of the pension. If the surviving spouse is working, the amount of pension is reduced by 50% after three years.
Children are entitled to receive a pension until they reach the age of 24 years, provided they are unmarried. The amount of pension for the children is 25% of the pension the deceased parent was entitled to. If both parents have died, the child is entitled to 50% of the pension.
Greece's Social Security Institute provides disability benefits to insured employees. Disability is certified if the insured person can no longer earn more than 50% of the average earnings of a worker in their profession. The amount of the disability pension depends on the degree of disability as follows:
Effective January 1, 2024, the minimum amount of disability pension is EUR 852.34 per month.
The legal minimum working age in Greece is 15 years. The wages of employees below 18 years cannot be lower than the minimum wage for unskilled workers in the country. In cases where persons between 15 and 18 years of age are employed under apprenticeship contracts, they can be paid 75% of the minimum wage. Medical certification is required so that the employment chosen by the minors does not endanger their health or their physical or mental development. Certification is done by health services after medical examinations. Medical examinations are conducted every 12 months till they reach the age of 18 years.
Minors below the age of 16 years or minors who are still at school cannot be employed for more than 6 hours per day or 30 hours a week. Minors below 18 years of age cannot be employed during night hours from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Persons between the ages of 16 and 17 cannot work for more than eight hours per day or 40 hours per week. Persons below 18 years of age cannot be employed in hazardous work or work that harms their physical, mental, or moral health.
Annual paid leave should be granted in the summer during the school vacation period. Half of that leave may be granted during other periods of the year at the minor’s request.
Unemployment 10.1%
Share of the labor force that is unemployed, but available for and seeking employment © 2024 - WBG • ILO
51.6%
Labor force population share
44.8%
Female share of labor force
77%
Healthcare access
Unemployment: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), ILO (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 07, 2025.
Labor force (total): The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO (ILO), type: estimates based on external database; United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Staff estimates, WBG (WB)
Labor force population share: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO Modelled Estimates database (ILOEST), ILO (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: January 07, 2025
Female share of labor force: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • ILO (ILO), type: estimates based on external database; United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Population Division; Staff estimates, WBG (WB)
Healthcare access: The World Bank: World Development Indicators: World Bank Group • GHO, WHO (WHO), uri: https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/service-coverage
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