unemployment – To Archeio https://toarcheio.org To Archeio project site Thu, 30 Apr 2020 12:52:11 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1 Social bonds and coping strategies of unemployed people in Europe https://toarcheio.org/items/social-bonds-and-coping-strategies-of-unemployed-people-in-europe/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:43 +0000 http://arc.local/items/social-bonds-and-coping-strategies-of-unemployed-people-in-europe/ Continued]]> Experiencing unemployment, especially when it lasts longer than the legal period for receiving allowances, threatens the organic participation bond in post-industrial society as it raises questions, at least partially, about both the material and symbolic recognition of work and the social protection that stems from employment. The question is whether or not unemployment, goes together with a breakdown of the other types of bonds. the lineal bond (between parents and children), the elective participation bond (between people chosen based on affinities) and the citizenship bond (between individuals united by a core basis of rights and duties within a political community). If it does, we have to support the spiral hypothesis, if we look to the second, we are inclined to defend the compensation hypothesis (the break in the organic participation bond is compensated by the maintenance, even the strengthening, of the other types of bond). This article is based on in-depth interviews conducted with unemployed people from seven European Union countries (France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Romania and Ireland). It contributes to demonstrate that nemployment in a period of crisis increases the risk of a process of impoverishment and spiralling breaks in social bonds, but it is also in particular in the Southern countries at the origin of a process of coping, based on forms of compensation. The lineal bond is in these countries a basic resource to compensate the break in the organic participation bond.

]]> The effect of unemployment on self-reported health and mental health in Greece from 2008 to 2013: A longitudinal study before and during the financial crisis https://toarcheio.org/items/the-effect-of-unemployment-on-self-reported-health-and-mental-health-in-greece-from-2008-to-2013-a-longitudinal-study-before-and-during-the-financial-crisis/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:40 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-effect-of-unemployment-on-self-reported-health-and-mental-health-in-greece-from-2008-to-2013-a-longitudinal-study-before-and-during-the-financial-crisis/ Continued]]> The current study uses six annual waves of the Longitudinal Labor Market Study (LLMS) covering the 2008-2013 period to obtain longitudinal estimations suggesting statistically significant negative effects from unemployment on self-reported health and mental health in Greece. The specifications suggest that unemployment results in lower health and the deterioration of mental health during the 2008-2009 period compared with the 2010-2013 period, i.e., a period in which the country’s unemployment doubled as a consequence of the financial crisis. Unemployment seems to be more detrimental to health/mental health in periods of high unemployment, suggesting that the unemployment crisis in Greece is more devastating as it concerns more people. Importantly, in all specifications, comparable qualitative patterns are found by controlling for unemployment due to firm closure, which allows us to minimize potential bias due to unemployment-health related reverse causality. Moreover, in all cases, women are more negatively affected by unemployment in relation to their health and mental health statuses than are men. Greece has been more deeply affected by the financial crisis than any other EU country, and this study contributes by offering estimates for before and during the financial crisis and considering causality issues. Because health and mental health indicators increase more rapidly in a context of higher surrounding unemployment, policy action must place greater emphasis on unemployment reduction and supporting women’s employment.

]]> Enduring financial crisis in Greece: prevalence and correlates of major depression and suicidality https://toarcheio.org/items/enduring-financial-crisis-in-greece-prevalence-and-correlates-of-major-depression-and-suicidality/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:40 +0000 http://arc.local/items/enduring-financial-crisis-in-greece-prevalence-and-correlates-of-major-depression-and-suicidality/ Continued]]> PURPOSE:
A series of repeated cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013 were conducted with the aim of estimating the prevalence of major depression and suicidality as well as of investigating its risk factors. The present report concentrates on the 2013 survey.

METHODS:
A random and representative sample of 2.188 people was telephone interviewed with regard to various socio-economic indicators and the presence of major depression and suicidality, which were assessed with the germane module of the Structured Clinical Interview.

RESULTS:
Findings suggest a rise in 1-month prevalence of major depression (12.3 %) and a decline in prevalence of suicidality (2.8 %). Female gender, residence in rural area, low educational attainment, unemployment and economic hardship were found to increase the odds of suffering from major depression. The influence of economic hardship and unemployment on suicidality was also substantial and independent of major depression.

CONCLUSIONS:
Results stress the imperative need for the design and implementation of social policies and interventions that would offset the dire impact of the sustained recession in Greece.

]]> Is the crisis in Athens (also) gendered?: Facets of access and (in)visibility in everyday public spaces https://toarcheio.org/items/is-the-crisis-in-athens-also-gendered-facets-of-access-and-invisibility-in-everyday-public-spaces/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:30 +0000 http://arc.local/items/is-the-crisis-in-athens-also-gendered-facets-of-access-and-invisibility-in-everyday-public-spaces/ Continued]]> As the Greek crisis deepens and ‘recovery’ is constantly postponed to an unknown future, a dominant discourse seems to consolidate which focuses almost exclusively on macro-economic arguments and concerns. Other aspects of the crisis, among which are its gendered facets and unequal effects on women and men, rarely permeate the allegedly ‘central’ understandings. With the possible exception of unemployment which fares high among left-wing analysts, gender is thought to pertain to a ‘special’, that is, less important, matter which may detract from the ‘main problem’. The paper draws together a series of stories of ordinary women who have experienced deep changes in their everyday lives as a result of austerity policies (unemployment, precarity, salary and pension cuts, shrinking social rights, mounting everyday violence). It argues that emphasis on this scale ‘closest in’, linked in multiple ways to many other scales (local, national, European, international), reveals areas of knowledge that would otherwise remain in the dark; and that connecting concrete bodies with global processes enriches our understandings with more complex and more flexible variables and informs the ‘big pictures’ (in this case about the Greek crisis)—and not only the reverse.

]]> Youth policy in austerity Europe: The case of Greece https://toarcheio.org/items/youth-policy-in-austerity-europe-the-case-of-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:27 +0000 http://arc.local/items/youth-policy-in-austerity-europe-the-case-of-greece/ Continued]]> This article addresses young people’s declining power in the Greek labour market due to the implementation of sweeping austerity policies and the consequent expansion of youth precarious employment and unemployment since the first bailout agreement in 2010. The analysis concludes that the crisis has acted as a catalyst for worsening of the employment situation of young people. Nevertheless, the social and employment disadvantage for youth has strong historical roots and it can be only partially explained by the crisis, as long before the crisis precarious forms of employment and unemployment rates were already higher than the adult levels. Finally, the article concludes that precarious youth employment and high youth unemployment levels are two sides of the same coin of poverty and social exclusion risk.

]]> Impact of Economic Crisis and Other Demographic and Socioeconomic Factors on Self-rated Health in Greece https://toarcheio.org/items/impact-of-economic-crisis-and-other-demographic-and-socioeconomic-factors-on-self-rated-health-in-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:23 +0000 http://arc.local/items/impact-of-economic-crisis-and-other-demographic-and-socioeconomic-factors-on-self-rated-health-in-greece/ Continued]]> Background: Financial crisis and worsened socio-economic conditions are associated with greater morbidity, less utilization of health services and deteriorated population’s health status. The aim of the present study was to investigate the determinants of self-rated health in Greece. Methods: Two national cross-sectional surveys conducted in 2006 and 2011 were combined, and their data were pooled giving information for 10 572 individuals. The sample in both studies was random and stratified by gender, age, degree of urbanization and geographic region. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the impact of several factors on self-rated health. Results: Poor self-rated health was most common in older people, unemployed, pensioners, housewives and those suffering from chronic disease. Men, individuals with higher education and those with higher income have higher probability to report better self-rated health. Furthermore, the probability of reporting poor self-rated health is higher at times of economic crisis. Conclusion: Our findings confirm the association of self-rated health with economic crisis and certain demographic and socio-economic factors. Given that the economic recession in Greece deepens, immediate and effective actions targeting health inequalities and improvements in health status are deemed necessary.

]]> The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide: On the empirics of a modern Greek tragedy https://toarcheio.org/items/the-impact-of-fiscal-austerity-on-suicide-on-the-empirics-of-a-modern-greek-tragedy/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:23 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-impact-of-fiscal-austerity-on-suicide-on-the-empirics-of-a-modern-greek-tragedy/ Continued]]> Suicide rates in Greece (and other European countries) have been on a remarkable upward trend following the global recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2009. However, recent investigations of the impact on Greek suicide rates from the 2008 financial crisis have restricted themselves to simple descriptive or correlation analyses. Controlling for various socio–economic effects, this study presents a statistically robust model to explain the influence on realised suicidality of the application of fiscal austerity measures and variations in macroeconomic performance over the period 1968–2011. The responsiveness of suicide to levels of fiscal austerity is established as a means of providing policy guidance on the extent of suicide behaviour associated with different fiscal austerity measures. The results suggest (i) significant age and gender specificity in these effects on suicide rates and that (ii) remittances have suicide-reducing effects on the youth and female population. These empirical regularities potentially offer some guidance on the demographic targeting of suicide prevention measures and the case for ‘economic’ migration.

]]> The welfare state and the crisis: the case of Greece https://toarcheio.org/items/the-welfare-state-and-the-crisis-the-case-of-greece/ Tue, 16 Apr 2019 22:25:10 +0000 http://arc.local/items/the-welfare-state-and-the-crisis-the-case-of-greece/ Continued]]> The paper examines the relationship between the severe economic crisis
facing Greece and the country’s social protection system, arguing that
this relationship is ambivalent. On one level, the welfare state itself has
contributed in a far from trivial way to the fiscal crisis of the state, its
various failures including huge deficits in key programmes such as
pensions and health. On another level, the crisis and the measures to
counter it deprive the welfare state of resources, while at the same time
setting in motion sweeping changes. On a third level, social protection
can help cope with the consequences of the crisis, but enhancing its
capacity to do so will require considerable reconfiguration and proper
funding of social safety nets. The paper concludes by discussing the
prospects for a revival of welfare state building in Greece in the current
harsh climate.

]]>