Financialization and the rise of atypical work

Abstract

Abstract The current literature on financialization and the labour process focuses disproportionately on how corporate financialization induces the use of atypical work and largely overlooks the role of household financialization. This paper presents several mechanisms through which household debt and pension fund financialization increase the financial insecurity of employees, which, in turn, can curb their resistance to accepting such work contracts. To assess our arguments, we estimate the effects of corporate and household financialization on involuntary part‐time and temporary employment, using a panel dataset of OECD economies. Our findings provide robust support that financialization increases significantly non‐standard employment rates for the total workforce and women, but less for older employees.