Coming to Terms with the Greek Crisis: Highly Educated Young Women’s Employment Struggles in Conditions of Economic Austerity

Julia Kazana-Mccarthy

doi:10.1177/13607804211023521

Abstract

The global financial recession which began in 2008 has led to significant economic and social consequences for youth, with the case of Greece being a notable one in terms of severity. Repeated political-economic ‘shocks’ to the structure of Greek society have manifest in common situations of unemployment and underemployment. Although impacting heavily on the working classes, severe curtailments in medium-high-skilled labour have also been observed among the middle classes as well. Following these contexts, the article examines the experiences of highly educated young women in Greece ( n = 36) as they navigate precarious employment within the midst of the Greek economic crisis. It is argued that rather than their educated status offering opportunities to deploy resources to help withstand the crisis, their high education levels create frustrations and barriers towards achieving suitable employment. These perceived mismatches between high education and low status and/or poor-quality work conditions are assessed in the context of research on emerging adulthood.

Highlights

Understood in the context of austerity policies in Europe and beyond (Matthijs, 2014; Overbeek, 2012), we have witnessed notable risks and hardships faced by young people during their pathways between work and education
The decision to draw on a wider range of ages than those typically associated with emerging adulthood was used to assess any potential differences in the ways that young women respond to the crisis
One key feature of the financial crisis in Greece is the shortage of work in medium-high-skilled occupations (Molokotos-Liederman, 2016; Tsekeris et al, 2015), which has impacted certain industries especially hard

Summary

Introduction

Understood in the context of austerity policies in Europe and beyond (Matthijs, 2014; Overbeek, 2012), we have witnessed notable risks and hardships faced by young people during their pathways between work and education. Scholars have further identified this linkage between education and work as a primary feature of ‘emerging adulthood’ (Arnett, 2004; Seiter and Nelson, 2011), with implications beyond financial security, impacting on emotional well-being and aspirations for future lives. Because their identity status as ‘adults’ is not fixed, ‘emerging adults’ commonly regard their futures as a ‘phase of possibilities’ – ‘an age of high hopes and great expectations’ (Arnett, 2004:16). The context of the post-2008 financial crisis witnessed in extreme form in nations, such as Greece, puts such a ‘phase of possibilities’ in considerable doubt. Whereas for young men (aged 15–29), unemployment rates in Greece fluctuated between 30.9% and 37.6% between 2011 and 2015, for women, these rates were higher during the same time frame, ranging from 45.9% and 48.1% (Eurostat, 2020)

Methods

Results

Conclusion