Informal Employment in Advanced Economies

Re-Placing Informal Employment challenges many of the popular myths surrounding informal economic activities, and offers a radical reassesment of their extent, growth, location and nature. The book uses case studies from the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the US and Canada to challenge: * the popular belief that informal employment is growing throughout the advanced economies * the myth that this work is undertaken mostly by marginalized groups * the dominant view that we should replace informal with formal employment through enforcement of regulations. Examining policy options and their consequences, the authors show that conventional approaches only increase inequalities and that a radical alternative solution is essential.

Colin C.Williams is a Senior Lecturer in Economic Geography at the University of Leicester, Jan Windebank is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Sheffield.

Chapter 1 Introduction; Part 1 Examining Informal Employment; Chapter 2 Methods of Researching Informal Employment; Chapter 3 Theorising Informal Employment; Part 2 Socio-Spatial Divisions in Informal Employment; Chapter 4 Employment Status and Informal Employment; Chapter 5 Gender and Informal Employment; Chapter 6 Ethnicity, Immigration and Informal Employment; Chapter 7 Spatial Divisions in Informal Employment; Chapter 8 Informal Employment in Developing Nations; Part 3 What is to be Done About Informal Employment?; Chapter 9 Regulating Informal Employment; Chapter 10 Deregulating Formal Employment; Chapter 11 Informal Employment and the New Economics; Chapter 12 Conclusions: Re-Placing Informal Employment in the Advanced Economies;