Social exclusion and the informal sector

What is it about?

This paper evaluates who engages in informal work. The intention in doing so is to analyse whether important causal factors of social exclusion such as age, education, gender and employment status, influence participation in informal work in the European Union.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

To do this, a 2013 Eurobarometer survey of who participates in undeclared work in 28 European member states is reported. Using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression analysis, the finding is that although some marginalised groups (the unemployed, those having difficulties paying their household bills, the working class and younger age groups) are significantly more likely to participate in the informal sector, others are not (those with less formal education and living in rural areas) and yet others (women and people in deprived European regions) are significantly less likely to participate.

Perspectives