Financialisation, Underemployment and the Disconnected Greek Capitalism

Abstract

Recent contributions within the disconnected capitalism literature argue that personal financial insecurity related to household indebtedness and pension fund financialisation is positively associated with time-related underemployment. This is because financially insecure workers are more likely to accept worsening working conditions on the fear of losing their job and defaulting on their debts. Using quarterly data from the Eurostat for the period 2008Q3–2020Q4, this paper shows that the persistent rise of time-related underemployment rates in postcrisis Greece is robustly associated with the household debt ratio and pension fund investments in financial derivatives. We also demonstrate that while the effects of financialisation are similar for men and women, the employment-tied and gendered nature of social benefits in the country has disproportionately affected women in the context of austerity. The paper concludes that personal financial insecurity is a key missing factor behind rising time-related underemployment in Greece since 2008.