Labour market impact of four recessions on women and men in Greece: Comparative analysis in a long term perspective

Η τρέχουσα οικονομική κρίση στη χώρα μας έχειοδηγήσει σε δραματική συρρίκνωση της ανδρικήςκαι της γυναικείας απασχόλησης και την ανεργίασε επίπεδα χωρίς ιστορικό προηγούμενο. Στο άρ-θρο αυτό συγκρίνονται οι επιπτώσεις της τρέχου-σας κρίσης σε άνδρες και γυναίκες με αυτές τωντριών προηγούμενων υφέσεων: 1974, 1980-83και 1990-93. Διαπιστώνουμε μεγάλες διαφορέςμεταξύ των τεσσάρων υφέσεων, που οφείλονταιστη διαφορετική φύση και διάρκειά τους, τουςκλάδους που κάθε φορά πλήττονται και τη δυνα-μική της γυναικείας συμμετοχής στο εργατικό δυ-ναμικό πριν το ξέσπασμα της κρίσης. Η διαφοράτης τρέχουσας ύφεσης σε σχέση με τις προηγού-μενες ως προς τις επιπτώσεις φύλου απορρέει απότο δομικό της χαρακτήρα και τις επιπτώσεις τηςπαρατεταμένης και βαθειάς ύφεση της οικονομίαςστον τομέα των υπηρεσιών, όπου συγκεντρώνεταιο μεγάλος όγκος της γυναικείας απασχόλησης. Ανκαι, μέχρι σήμερα, η απασχόληση των ανδρώνέχει πληγεί περισσότερο από αυτή των γυναικών,η επέκταση της ύφεσης στις υπηρεσίες αντέστρεψε τη μακροχρόνια τάση αύξησης του γυναικείουποσοστού απασχόλησης. Αντίθετα, και στις τρειςπροηγούμενες υφέσεις, ο τριτογενής τομέας είχεπαίξει προστατευτικό, αντισταθμιστικό και ενισχυτικό ρόλο για τη γυναικεία απασχόληση.The current economic crisis in Greece hasproduced a dramatic fall in male and femaleemployment and driven unemployment tohistorically unprecedented levels. This articlecompares gender differences in the labourmarket impact of the current crisis with thoseof the three previous recessions: 1974, 1980-83,1990-1993. We have found large discrepancies inthe gender impact between the four recessions.These are due to differences in their nature andduration, the sectors and industries hit eachtime and the trends of women’s labour forceparticipation before the eruption of the crisis.The structural nature of the current crisis and thenegative repercussions of the deep and prolongedrecession on the services sector that concentratesthe great bulk of female employment explainwhy the gendered labour market impact of thecurrent crisis is different from that of previousrecessions. Male employment has been morehit than female employment until now, butthe spread of the recession to services reversedthe long term trend of increase in the femaleemployment rate. By contrast, in all threeprevious recessions, the tertiary sector had playeda protective, compensating and enhancing rolefor women’s employment

(Re)theorising laddish masculinities in higher education

In the context of renewed debates and interest in this area, this paper reframes the theoretical agenda around laddish masculinities in UK higher education, and similar masculinities overseas. These can be contextualised within consumerist neoliberal rationalities, the neoconservative backlash against feminism and other social justice movements, and the postfeminist belief that women are winning the ‘battle of the sexes’. Contemporary discussions of ‘lad culture’ have rightly centred sexism and men¹s violence against women: however, we need a more intersectional analysis. In the UK a key intersecting category is social class, and there is evidence that while working class articulations of laddism proceed from being dominated within alienating education systems, middle class and elite versions are a reaction to feeling dominated due to a loss of gender, class and race privilege. These are important differences, and we need to know more about the conditions which shape and produce particular performances of laddism, in interaction with masculinities articulated by other social groups. It is perhaps unhelpful, therefore, to collapse these social positions and identities under the banner of ‘lad culture’, as has been done in the past

Transition strategies and labour market integration of Greek university graduates

Greece has today the highest youth unemployment rate in the EU-27 while employment precariousness is disproportionately concentrated among young workers. Youth unemployment and employment precariousness are extremely high even among higher education graduates, generating a very long period of transition from education to work. Protracted transition calls for the development of diverse strategies for successful labour market integration before and after graduation. In this paper we use micro-data from a nation-wide survey conducted in 2005 to examine the incidence of different transition strategies among Greek university graduates, assess their effectiveness for successful labour market integration 5-7 years after graduation and test if the findings conform to the southern European pattern of labour market entry advanced by comparative socio-economic literature. The theoretical framework of our analysis is that of labour market segmentation and job competition theory in a context of high unemployment and imperfect information

Aspects of flexibility and segmentation of the Greek labour market: a sectoral approach

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Transition Strategies and Labour Market Integration of Greek University Graduates.

Greece has today the highest youth unemployment rate in the EU-27 while employment precariousness is disproportionately concentrated among young workers. Youth unemployment and employment precariousness are extremely high even among higher education graduates, generating a very long period of transition from education to work. Protracted transition calls for the development of diverse strategies for successful labour market integration before and after graduation. In this paper we use micro-data from a nation-wide survey conducted in 2005 to examine the incidence of different transition strategies among Greek university graduates, assess their effectiveness for successful labour market integration 5-7 years after graduation and test if the findings conform to the southern European pattern of labour market entry advanced by comparative socio-economic literature. The theoretical framework of our analysis is that of labour market segmentation and job competition theory in a context of high unemployment and imperfect information.Early careers; Greek university graduates; Higher education; Labour market integration; Transition strategies.

Wage determination and the gender pay gap: A feminist political economy analysis and decomposition

This paper develops a heterodox analytical framework of wage determination and a new method of decomposition of the gender pay gap drawing on Marxian and feminist theories. The proposed framework utilizes two wage equations for the analysis of the gender gap: the first equation refers to average occupational wages and the second to individual wages as deviations from occupational wages. Using a data set for wages from industries in Greece, this paper demonstrates and explains differences in results between this proposed decomposition of the gender pay gap and that of Oaxaca-Blinder, and discusses the merits of this new technique compared to the Brown-Moon-Zoloth method. The authors argue that the main advantage of this proposed method of decomposition over the other two methods is that the proposed method allows for separate estimates of the impact of social and individual gender wage discrimination on the gender pay gap.Wage determination, gender pay gap, decomposition method, JEL Codes: J16, J31, E11,