ABSTRACT
This article discusses the role of foreign workers in the Portuguese labour market, relating the recent changes in the labour market with the need for foreign workers to satisfy the demand in some sectors. Focusing on the secondary labour market, namely in the sectors that require temporary and flexible work (such as construction and public works), an overview is presented of the strategies supporting clandestine work. Using the example of the construction sector in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, the role of diverse agents (firms, sub-contractors, workers, state institutions and trade unions) in this network of informal labour is 265discussed – as well as the different forms of vulnerability to which the foreign clandestine workers are exposed.
