The Hartz reforms did lower labour costs for some companies and created a huge new segment of low-income workers that have almost no chances to earn a a regular job and besides that temp work was legalized and is largely employed to lower wage costs.

This made the exports possible and made a few people rich.

A lot of people argue it's unhealthy and will bite Germany in the long term.

Besides that: The average german is still far better off than the average greek.