ABSTRACT
The informal sector/economy/activities, after a long association with Third World development studies since the 1970s, has gained currency in industrialized countries as a tool for understanding industrial restructuring and changes in the labour market. A mass of publications has appeared, from the early 1980s onwards, prioritizing various aspects of informal activities, with a predominantly urban focus. The European Commission commissioned a report entitled Underground economy and irregular forms of employment (travail au noir)which gave an overview of the ‘underground economy’ in member states, emphasizing aspects of employment conditions (Barthelemy et al., 1988). In 1995, a new report was compiled on the informal sector, thus acknowledging its (growing?) importance in member states (Mingione and Magatti, 1995). The new report is a follow-up of the White Paper Growth, competitiveness and employment, where flexibility and restructuring of employment relations are given a high priority in the process of European integration. In European Union (EU) documents, the term ‘atypical’ has also been introduced, overlapping but not identical with ‘informal’ since it refers to ‘non-standard’ forms of employment, particularly with regard to women’s involvement in paid work (Meulders and Plasman, 1992).
