Informal Economy

The informal economy is defined as all work that is not “formal employment,” by which is meant paid work registered with the state for tax, social security, and labor law purposes. This defining of the informal economy in terms of what it is not accurately displays the centrality of formal employment in contemporary society. The consequence is that the informal economy is a residual catchall umbrella category into which all work that is not formal employment is cast. The result is that multifarious forms of work are brought together under this heading of the informal economy. To differentiate the heterogeneous types of work practice grouped together in this leftover, or residual, category, three broad types of informal work are commonly distinguished. First, there is [Page ...