ABSTRACT
During the transition to modern industrial society, diverse forms of work were gradually transformed into formal employment. However, beyond formal employment, various informal forms of work have survived and sometimes grown in importance during the transition to a post-industrial service society. One such form of work is informal employment, or what is sometimes referred to as undeclared work. Until now, however, and owing to its hidden nature, knowledge about the way it is developing and the reasons why it is developing have been rather limited. Indeed, insofar as informal employment has been the subject of theoretical reflections and empirical research, the approaches and assumptions are often highly controversial. Theoretical approaches that seek to explain the development of informal employment often assumed that one specific set of factors is relevant. Here, it is argued that there are various types of informal employment that are connected in different ways with broader socioeconomic structures. The development of each type is influenced by a particular set of factors. This argument is developed for the case of Germany.
