Evaluating the Prevalence and Nature of Selfemployment in the Informal Economy: Evidence from a 27-Nations European Survey
Evaluating the Prevalence and Nature of Selfemployment in the Informal Economy: Evidence from a 27-Nations European Survey

Summary/Abstract: Reporting a 2007 Eurobarometer survey involving 26,659 face-to-face interviews, this paper has revealed that 1 in 28 of the EU population surveyed had undertaken informal self-employment during the previous year. However, this overarching figure masks significant socio-spatial variations. Participation in informal selfemployment, for example, is much higher in Nordic nations where 9% had engaged in such endeavour during the previous year, whilst just 2% had done so in Southern Europe. Given that a significantly smaller proportion of this informal selfemployment is conducted for closer social relations in Southern Europe, this lower propensity towards informal self-employment has been here tentatively explained by the non-monetisation of kinship and community exchange in Southern Europe. The groups most likely to engage in such work, meanwhile, are those working in construction and household services, men, younger age groups, those with higher levels of education, the lowest- and middle-income groups, the self-employed, manual workers unemployed and students along with those living in rural areas.

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