Who Engages in Undeclared Work in Urban Europe? A Critical Evaluation of the Marginality Thesis

Abstract

Abstract:The view that undeclared work is undertaken by marginalised populations (i.e., those groups relatively excluded from the formal labour market) is a core assumption of not only modernisation theory, which holds that undeclared work is conducted by and for marginal population at the 'bottom of the pyramid', but also political economy theory, which views contemporary capitalism to outsource and subcontract production to the undeclared economy where marginalised populations conduct such work as a survival strategy. Until now however, few extensive evaluations of the validity of this marginality thesis have been conducted in relation to urban environments. To fill this gap, this paper reports data from a 2013 cross-national survey of urban populations in 28 European member states. Using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis, this reveals that although some marginalised groups in urban Europe (those having difficulties paying their household bills and younger age groups) are significantly more likely to participate in undeclared work, others are not (the unemployed) and yet others (women and urban dwellers in less affluent European regions) are significantly less likely to participate. The outcome is a more variegated theorisation of which marginal groups participate in undeclared work in urban areas and the need for policy towards the undeclared economy to address this more nuanced understanding.

Undeclared activities on digital labour platforms: an exploratory study

“…those coming from poorer areas) are more likely to engage in undeclared work (Williams and Horodnic, 2017) because they have no other choice to obtain their income (ETUC, 2014). However, necessity is not the only reason for participating in undeclared work (Williams and Horodnic, 2017). Two other explanations can be retrieved from the two main approaches governments have been using in policies to tackle undeclared work until now, namely the "rational economic actor" approach and the "social actor" approach.…”

“…Taking the marginality thesis into consideration, a view is that marginalized populations (these being groups that are excluded from the formal labour market – e.g. those coming from poorer areas) are more likely to engage in undeclared work (Williams and Horodnic, 2017) because they have no other choice to obtain their income (ETUC, 2014). However, necessity is not the only reason for participating in undeclared work (Williams and Horodnic, 2017).…”

Evaluating the Prevalence and Distribution of Unregistered Employment in Kosovo: Lessons from a 2017 Survey

“…Data indicate that 35.6% of Albanian workers are unregistered as opposed to 23.5% non-Albanian-representing ethnic minorities in Kosovo. The explanation may be due to limited social networks of ethnic minorities, hence less information on opportunities to working as undeclared workers (Williams and Horodnic, 2017a) and/or possibly higher risks of detection and less protection when caught.…”