Greek university professors are underpaid compared to other state-paid jobs and have the lowest wages among professors in western Europe but slightly higher than their colleagues in eastern Europe, according to a report in Ta Nea newspaper (link in Greek) of research conducted by a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Before the outbreak of Greece’s financial crisis, they received the lowest wage increases compared to lawyers, doctors of the national health system (ESY) and military officials while during the financial crisis,they received pay cuts amounting to 29% (lecturers with one year work experience without children) and 38% for professors with 30 years experience and married with two children.

According to the research conducted by Charalambos Feidas, prior to 2007 there was relative parity when it came to the basic wages of  judges, state doctors and university professors but this changed in 2008-9 when judges got a wage increase of 83%, doctors received 28%, military officials got 13% while professors received no raise at all.

Wages of university professors are on a par with those of  high school teachers. A high school headmaster with 30 years experience gets roughly the same pay as a university professor with 20 years experience.

A high school teacher with 20 years experience receives, more or less, the same pay with an assistant professor with 12 years experience.
  
Compared to other EU countries, Greece lies in 28th place when it comes to wage levels of university professors.

However, Greek professors earn more than their colleagues in Bulgaria (the lowest salaries), Romania, Lithuania, Hungary,Latvia, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic but less than the ones in Slovenia, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, UK, Holland, Cyprus, Belgium and Ireland.  
    
Interestingly, when the research factors in wages relative to GDP it showed that countries with a high GDP per capita, like in Scandinavia, are relatively low on the wage scale while countries like Poland and the Czech Republic move higher. Greece is somewhere in the middle while Cyprus moves to the top, followed by Ireland, Portugal and Italy.

Greece also ranks very low in state expenditure on research