Employment In Greece Research Articles

Constructing Talent and Flexibility in Focus Group Discussions on Inequality and Unemployment in Greece

ABSTRACTThis article examines the ways in which participants construct talent and flexibility in accounts of income inequality and (un)employment in Greece. Eight (8) focus groups with forty‐one (41) Greek citizens, aged 18–65 years were conducted. Analysis used the principles of Critical Discursive Social Psychology (CDSP). Participants were asked to evaluate the compensation that should be given to employees from different professional categories and to discuss changes in the Greek (un)employment policy. Findings indicated that in the first conversational context, talent (as one's inherent characteristic or as a byproduct of personal effort) was constructed as important for professional success. Besides, putting the right (talented) person in the right job was constituted as necessary for achieving maximum productivity. On the other hand, in the second conversational context, when participants discussed the new law on unemployment, they underscored the obligation of the unemployed to conform with the labour market's needs, regardless of their qualifications or talents. The ideal unemployed individual was represented as highly active and adaptable, while productivity was linked to flexibility. The discussion relates these potentially contradictory argumentative lines mobilised by participants to dilemmatic aspects of neoliberal ideology and its reproduction.

Review of Women’s Employment in Greece in the 20th and Early 21st Centuries

Review of Women’s Employment in Greece in the 20th and Early 21st Centuries

Empirical analysis on the impact of labour market regulations on uninsured employment in Greece

The impact of labour market regulations on uninsured employment in Greece between 2014 and 2019 is a crucial exploration in response to the pervasive challenge of undeclared work. With the rise of globalization and evolving labour dynamics, understanding and addressing the complexities of uninsured employment by analysing data from the Greek Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs was the main purpose of this study. Employing a comprehensive examination of key indicators, the study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of measures in curbing undeclared work. The pivotal strategies implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs during the specified period were analysed using statistical analysis, focusing on high fines, reduced non-salary costs, the ERGANI information system, and a modernized fines framework. Statistical graphs were utilized to examine trends, providing a solid foundation for evaluating the impact of the implemented strategies. Qualitative assessments were employed to offer a nuanced understanding of the contextual factors influencing the outcomes. The findings reveal a positive trend, showcasing a significant reduction in undeclared workers and non-compliant businesses, underscoring the effectiveness of the implemented measures. An examination of 237,455 businesses in Greece over the period 2014-2019 revealed that 28,044 entities (11.81%) employed undeclared workers. Among 812,460 scrutinized employees, 44,642 (5.49%) were identified as undeclared, leading to fines totalling €468,997,663 in efforts to address non-compliance with labour regulations. This study not only sheds light on the successful strategies adopted by the Greek government but also offers valuable practical lessons for policymakers globally

Empirical analysis on the impact of labour market regulations on uninsured employment in Greece.

Empirical analysis on the impact of labour market regulations on uninsured employment in Greece.

The short-term impact of the 2020 pandemic lockdown on employment in Greece

This paper analyzes the short-term employment impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in Greece during the first few months following the pandemic onset. During the initial lockdown period, aggregate employment was lower by almost 9 percentage points than it would have been expected based on pre-pandemic employment trends. However, due to a government intervention that prohibited layoffs, this was not due to higher separation rates. The overall short-term employment impact was due to lower hiring rates. To uncover the mechanism behind this, we use a difference-in-differences framework, and show that tourism-related activities, which are exposed to seasonal variation, had significantly lower employment entry rates in the months following the pandemic onset compared to non-tourism activities. Our results highlight the relevance of the timing of unanticipated shocks in economies with strong seasonal patterns, and the relative effectiveness of policy interventions to partly absorb the consequences of such shocks.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION IN TOURISM BUSINESSES – AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Tourism in one of the most important sectors in Greece and it has been a key element of the economic activity in the country. Before the pandemic of COVID-19 tourism represented almost 30% of GDP and 25% of employment in Greece. This research paper aims to study the employee satisfaction in tourism, an important part of human resource management. For the purposes of this study an empirical analysis is conducted to tourism employees of the prefecture of Halkidiki. The findings support that the employees are not satisfied with their salaries, they accept their evaluation but there are no rewards, they are satisfied in general with their employment and they believe that they will be employed for the next tourism season.

On Measuring the Impact of Internal Devaluation in Greece: Poverty, Flexibility, Migration and Growthless Employment

This article takes a critical view on austerity policy and examines its social and economic consequences for the case of Greece. By introducing the concept of “growthless employment” it demonstrates that the implementation of internal devaluation policies had a substantial impact on the Greek society that needs to be addressed. Within a decade, household disposable income was reduced to an unprecedented level while the labour market was extensively deregulated as several indicators can display. The seemingly paradoxical case of employment without growth—hence, growthless employment—can be interpreted as the consequence of the intensity of the mix of austerity policies that was imposed as “one-size-fits-all” without taking the peculiar structure of the Greek economy into account. A descriptive examination of this idiosyncratic state of affairs is offered, providing new insights on how the level of depreciation can be better assessed. It is argued that the overall severity of the crisis is better captured by the level of disposable income whereas a modified measurement of poverty and income depreciation is introduced for the same purpose. Lastly it is maintained that Greece has suffered by an enormous outflow of its productive-aged population in the aftermath of the crisis. All the above concretise the idea of growthless employment in Greece.

The Evolution of Agricultural Employment in Greece

Abstract Agriculture is considered one of the most important economic sectors in the European Union as it accounts for a large percentage (about 44%) of the EU budget, but also due to the fact that a large part of its population and areas are affected by agricultural activities. In Greece, the agricultural sector is the main district of the economy with an irreplaceable and crucial role as an important employer for a large workforce, thus ensuring social cohesion and regional development. Following Greece's accession to the EU, Greek agriculture is defined by the rules of European agriculture through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In general, the role of agriculture in Greece is proved by the fact that it occupies a large percentage of its land (about 30%) and employs 82% of rural population compared to 43% of urban population. Rural population in Greece is higher than that of the rest EU member states. The agricultural sector contributes to the country's GDP directly about 4% of the gross value added of the Greek economy and despite the problems it faces, it has demonstrated relative resilience to adverse economic conditions of recent years. In the present work, statistics concerning the agricultural employment in Greece are given and the main structural problems of Greek Agriculture are mentioned. In terms of agricultural employment, the absolute number of people has decreased significantly over time. The ratio employees in agricultural sector to the total number of employees decreased from 24% in 1989 to 15.2% in 2000 and 10.6% in 2017 but still remains significantly higher than the average of 4.4 % in 2017 in the European Union. Thus, in 2017 in Greece, 453,440 thousand people worked in agriculture. In connection with the outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic, especially in Greece, it was found that there is a lack of labor in the countryside and that the orientation of the economy should be directed to the agricultural sector to avoid possible food shortages and most importantly that this sector may lead to the stabilization of the Greek economy. Keywords: Agricultural holdings, People employed.

Η ενίσχυση της απασχόλησης των νέων στην Ελλάδα. Θεσμικές και πολιτισμικές προϋποθέσεις (Boosting Youth Employment in Greece. Institutional and Cultural Prerequisites)

Greek Abstract: Το άρθρο eπιχeιρeί μια συνοπτική και συνθeτική ανασκόπηση των σημαντικότeρων θeσμικών και πολιτισμικών παραμέτρων που, σύμφωνα μe την eλληνική και διeθνή βιβλιογραφία, συνδέονται μe τη δημιουργία eμποδίων eισόδου των νέων στην αγορά eργασίας. Σe αυτό το πλαίσιο, οι προτάσeις πολιτικής για την τόνωση της νeανικής απασχόλησης στην Eλλάδα eπικeντρώνονται στην ανάγκη για ριζικές μeταρρυθμίσeις και προσαρμογές, τόσο στους θeσμούς (της αγοράς eργασίας, του eκπαιδeυτικού συστήματος και της οικονομίας) όσο και στις κοινωνικές και διeκδικητικές ιeραρχήσeις των ίδιων των νέων. English Abstract: The article reviews the most important institutional and cultural factors that, according to the relative literature, are linking with entry barriers young people face into the labor market. In this context, the article argues that, in order to boost youth employment in Greece, significant institutional reforms as well as youth work attitudes’ adjustments are needed.

Austerity, Labor Market Reform and the Growth of Precarious Employment in Greece during the Eurozone Crisis

This article examines the relationship between structural reforms commonly referred to as austerity and the growth of precarious labour in Greece. It argues that, in contrast to the proponents of labour market flexibility, the liberalisation of labour markets, employment protection systems, social protection systems and collective bargaining institutions have not increased employment in Greece or minimised the growth of precarious employment. Rather, liberalising structural reforms have resulted in the creation of the very precarity its proponents claim is the product of rigid labour markets, and they have failed to significantly reduce existing levels of unemployment and increasing employment rates.

Nonstandard forms of employment in Greece during the crisis: Challenges, risks, and prospects

Nonstandard forms of employment in Greece during the crisis: Challenges, risks, and prospects

Temporary agency work, migration and the crisis in Greece: labour market segmentation intensified.

This article focuses on the under-researched temporary agency employment in Greece. It shows that the development of the temporary employment agency sector has gone hand in hand with the flow of undocumented and exploitable migrant labour in Greece over the past 25 years, reflecting the segmentation of the Greek labour market along ethnic lines. Using empirical research evidence on the operation of temporary employment agencies in the Greek hospitality and health care sectors, the article highlights the precarious or even illicit nature of agency employment in a context in which labour outsourcing and flexible employment are promoted by policy-makers. Last but not least, it suggests that the segmented landscape of the Greek labour market has become more complex during the economic crisis, with more and more Greeks drawn to agency-mediated precarious employment.

The diverse regional patterns of atypical employment in Greece: Production restructuring, re/deregulation and flexicurity under crisis

Because the 2008/2009 crisis brought changes to global accumulation patterns and prompted further work flexibilization, European labor markets are accordingly being re/deregulated as a result of ‘flexicurity’ and are thus moving toward greater employment liberalization. Historically, atypical employment has been extensive in the Greek labor market, which has been characterized by fragmented labor security provisions and weak social welfare. However, since the country’s crisis-ensuing economic downfall, IMF/EU-induced measures have intensified reforms for ‘less rigidity and more employability’. This paper addresses the diverse pre- and post-crisis regional patterns of atypical employment in Greece, with a focus on temporary waged employment. Diversity is traced in regional industrial specialization and restructuring under recession. The industry- and region-specific impact on labor flexibilization trajectories is estimated by a new shift-share analysis method applied to permanent and temporary regional employment data between 2005 and 2011. The identified ongoing devaluation of employment is also addressed from an institutional aspect, centered on flexicurity-responding labor relations reforms. The geography of employment in Greece is becoming more uneven at the regional level as a result of ‘low-road’ flexibilization, considerable labor-market insecurity and different patterns of atypical labor use among different groups of regions. The emerging situation puts in question the validity of labor market liberalization and flexicurity policy.

Unemployment in Greece: Econometric Evidence after the Athens 2004 Olympics and before the Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2009

This paper investigates the probability of employment in Greece and focuses on 2006, namely, well after the Athens 2004 Olympics and its fiscal stimulus and before the eruption of the global financial crisis of 2007–2009 that transformed into an economic and sovereign debt crisis with unprecedented consequences in the country's postwar economic history. Based on microdata from the Labour Force Survey, the analysis depicts the impact of gender, age, marital status, area of residence, level of education, and immigrant status on finding a job, in Greece as a whole and the two most populated Greek regions, Attica and Central Macedonia. The findings of the logit model show differences in the three areas under examination mainly among the educational variables and area of residence.

Migrant Women, Care Work, and Women's Employment in Greece

This contribution is about women's paid and unpaid work in the context of rapid socioeconomic change in Greece between 1983 and 2008. Drawing on feminist analyses of women's employment and the care sector, it highlights the link between women's paid employment and the supply of affordable immigrant (female) labor in Greece in the sphere of care provision. It examines three issues: the acceleration of women's involvement in the paid labor force after 1990; the parallel influx of immigrants, a quarter of whom are women involved in service provision for households, into Greece; and finally, the “big picture” of the demand for care (both paid and unpaid, childcare as well as eldercare) in the context of an aging population and women's rising participation in paid work. The analysis highlights the key contribution of migrant women acting as catalysts for social change.

Union responses to the rise of precarious youth employment in Greece

The ways unions have responded so far to the emergence of precarious employment among young people in Greece are critically analysed in this article. The analysis considers that traditional forms of regulation and union representation are not effective in protecting young workers from the risk of vulnerability at work. It further makes the case for a radical strategic reorientation of the Greek trade unions placing greater emphasis on organising and attracting young precarious workers through more appropriate representation structures and engagement strategies at the workplace level.

Η άλλη όψη των ευέλικτων μορφών απασχόλησης – Ευρήματα από εμπειρική έρευνα σε ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις εντάσεως γνώσης (The Other Side of Flexible Employment - Evidence from Greek Knowledge Intensive Firms)

Greek Abstract: Τις τeλeυταίeς δeκαeτίeς, eπαγγeλματικές κατηγορίeς eργαζομένων μe αυξημένα eκπαιδeυτικά προσόντα και δeξιότητeς, απασχολούνται όλο και πeρισσότeρο μe διάφορeς μορφές προσωρινής, «eξωτeρικής» eργασίας. Ταυτόχρονα, νέeς προσeγγίσeις έχουν αναδυθeί στη διeθνή και eυρωπαϊκή βιβλιογραφία, οι οποίeς αναγνωρίζουν αυτούς τους «eξωτeρικούς» eργαζόμeνους, πeρισσότeρο ως φορeίς νέων γνώσeων και ικανοτήτων που τονώνουν το δυναμισμό και την eυeλιξία των eπιχeιρήσeων, παρά ως μέσο διαχeίρισης του κόστους eργασίας. Το παρόν άρθρο eπιχeιρeί την ανάδeιξη αυτής της νέας, δυναμικής διάστασης των eυέλικτων μορφών απασχόλησης, αλλά και τη διeρeύνηση της παρουσίας της στην eλληνική αγορά eργασίας, αξιοποιώντας τα συμπeράσματα eμπeιρικής έρeυνας σe eνeνήντα έξι (96) eλληνικές eπιχeιρήσeις παροχής υπηρeσιών eντάσeως γνώσης. Η eμφάνιση και στην Eλλάδα πτυχών αυτής της νέας διάστασης της eυέλικτης eργασίας, έστω και αν τούτη συντeλeίται συχνά στο πλαίσιο eυκαιριακών στρατηγικών διαχeίρισης του ανθρώπινου δυναμικού, υποδeικνύeι την ανάγκη αναθeώρησης και eμπλουτισμού της αξιολογικής και eρμηνeυτικής προσέγγισης των eυέλικτων μορφών απασχόλησης στο σχeτικό δημόσιο διάλογο που διeξάγeται και στη χώρα μας. English Abstract: Over the last few decades, an increasing number of professionals with high educational qualifications and skills are employed under some forms of temporary, external work. At the same time, there have been emerging new approaches that recognize these workers as knowledge repositories for enhancing firms’ flexibility and competitiveness rather than tools for managing the labour cost. This article drawing upon data of 96 Greek firms belonging to knowledge-intensive business services, explores the implementation of these new trends in Greek labour market. The findings propose the enrichment of the interpretative and evaluative context of flexible employment in Greece with new qualitative dimensions and criteria.

Career Development and Gender Pay Disparities in State Employment in Greece

Much existing western‐based literature on gender argues that deregulated institutional mechanisms have a detrimental impact on gender segregation and pay differentials. However, there is little empirical evidence to confirm the opposite in highly regulated systems such as those in Greece, even though there are strong reasons to suggest that it may be quite different here because of the unusual gender division of labour and endemic patriarchal norms. An apt example of this is national state employment in which centrally determined work processes reflect societal discriminatory structures. This article examines the impact of institutions on career development and its potential effects on gender pay disparities in state employment in Greece. It attempts to achieve this by exploring the extent to which rule‐based systems may overturn gender bias in one public organization in Greece. The study suggests that exogenous parameters may shape centrally imposed institutional frameworks both in terms of facilitating and hindering career progression and thus pay.

ALBANIAN MIGRATION TO GREECE: PATTERNS AND PROCESSES OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION IN THE LABOUR MARKET

ABSTRACT The Albanian case represents the most spectacular instance of East–West migration after the dismantling of the Iron Curtain. This paper examines the ways in which Albanians have been able to access employment in Greece and analyzes the processes through which the exclusion of Albanians in employment has occurred. In doing so, we acknowledge the multi-dimensionality of the concept and we look at what kind of inclusion different groups and individuals of Albanian origin achieve in the Greek society and why some migrants do better than others. We will identify three groups of migrants: those who have no contact with any networks of support, are unable to find a job and are in need of help; those who are at risk, fragile in economic terms, without access to social provisions or benefits; and finally those who after regularization have a relatively stable job, and access to social provisions and benefits.

Greek university students: a discouraged workforce

PurposeThe significance of young, well‐educated workers in the Greek labour market has been largely neglected in studies addressing the issue of low participation rate in the labour force of the country. This study focuses on the reluctance of Greek students to enter the labour market and combine studies with paid work. This article reports on a survey that aimed to examine to what extent university students in Greece seek to work during term‐time and to explore student perceptions of combining studies and work.Design/methodology/approachThe survey was conducted in May 2003 and involved 466 full‐time undergraduate students at the Universities of Macedonia and Aristotle in Thessaloniki, Greece. A structured questionnaire was used in exploring students’ perceptions of working and studying full‐time simultaneously.FindingsThe survey found that only 22 per cent of students have entered wage labour, while inactivity rate is very high, amounting to 55 per cent. Although many students assess employability after graduation as the main motivation for working, the majority of them are discouraged to search for a job because of schedule conflicts and lack of job opportunities.Practical implicationsIn breaking this deadlock the article explores the idea of restructuring the internal labour market in Greek universities by expanding services and offering part‐time job positions to their students.Originality/valueGiven the dearth of empirical research on youth employment in Greece, this paper aims to contribute to debates in the wider academic community on the issue of preparing young, well‐educated people to enter the Greek labour market.