ABSTRACT
Typically used to describe the small-scale self-employment endeavours of families in poverty in African cities, research on the informal economy has predominantly focused on its use as a livelihood strategy in underdeveloped countries. Despite an increasing focus on informal work, however, much remains unknown about the role and function of informal work as a livelihood strategy in US households. Informal work in the US has mostly been examined through smaller-scale regional studies or qualitative case studies. These studies have highlighted both the prominence of informal work as a livelihood strategy and its interaction with other household livelihood strategies, like formal employer work, formal self-employment and receiving government aid. Race/ethnicity and years in the community are significantly and positively correlated with outside help without informal work as a livelihood strategy. Correlations between independent variables and household livelihood strategy choice change somewhat when the sample is restricted to households with formal labour market attachment.
