Two tales of wage adjustment

It is well known that in the last five years Greek wages have collapsed both in the public and in the private sector. What is perhaps less known, owing in part to the attention of much of the policy debate on the cuts in the public sector, is that the wage adjustment in the two sectors has been equally deep. In fact, the private sector experienced if anything more radical changes in its pay-structure, with elements of increasing commodification, while the public sector continues to offer advantageous wages to privileged groups, despite the policy focus on the “rationalization” of pay in the sector.