ABSTRACT
In 1987, Alejandro Portes and Saskia Sassen-Koob published the theory that developments in post-industrial society would lead to the formation of an informal economy, with very low pay for the labour force. In Denmark, the informal economy has been the subject of systematic research since 1980. Looking at job developments in Denmark since the beginning of the 1970s, a clear fall has occurred in the number of jobs in manufacturing industry in the Greater Copenhagen area at the same time as growth in the number of people employed in the private and public service sectors. Investigations in Denmark show, for instance, that much of the “black” work is carried out by skilled tradesmen with legal jobs. Surveys carried out from 1980 and onwards have given detailed information about many sides of “black” activities in Denmark. The structure of the labour market in Denmark and the other Nordic countries is different from the rest of the EU States.
