Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Incorporation of Illegal Immigrants and ‘Internal Migration Control’
- 2 Loopholes in the Labour Market: Informal Employment
- 3 Crime as Alternative Option: Illicit Employment
- 4 Internal Surveillance in Practice: the Police
- 5 Close Encounters with the Welfare State: Limits of the Linking Act
- 6 Summary and Conclusions. Legal Limits to Incorporation, Social Limits to Internal Control
- Appendices
- Notes
- References
- Index of Names
2 - Loopholes in the Labour Market: Informal Employment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Incorporation of Illegal Immigrants and ‘Internal Migration Control’
- 2 Loopholes in the Labour Market: Informal Employment
- 3 Crime as Alternative Option: Illicit Employment
- 4 Internal Surveillance in Practice: the Police
- 5 Close Encounters with the Welfare State: Limits of the Linking Act
- 6 Summary and Conclusions. Legal Limits to Incorporation, Social Limits to Internal Control
- Appendices
- Notes
- References
- Index of Names
Summary
The promise of informality is therefore the promise of choices – choices made more available but by no means universally available by the informal economy.
(J. C. Cross 1998: 250)Introduction: informalisation
Employment is the backbone of many theories on illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants are first and foremost seen as economically motivated individuals who exploit informal economic opportunities in prosperous countries. Studies on the informal economy indicate that these opportunities exist in one form or another, not just in Third World countries, but also in advanced economies (Castells and Portes 1989, Portes 1994). Economies need a certain degree of activity on the fringes to function smoothly (Jahn and Straubhaar 1999) and governments commonly tolerate at least some forms of informality. Globalisation theory, moreover, suggests that informal economic activities are recently gaining importance in advanced economies, as a result of far-reaching socio-economic transformations. Sassen has pointed out that immigrants play a crucial role in global cities where job growth takes place both at the top and the bottom end of the labour market (Sassen 1991). New immigrants are most likely to benefit from the opportunities at the lower end of the spectrum, where competition is fierce and informality is one of the ways to cut prices. Sassen attaches crucial importance to illegal immigrants in this respect, as they comprise the flexible and less-demanding workforce that restructuring economies need in particular.
Many European cities, even when they are strictly speaking not ‘global cities’, show similar tendencies of a ‘conjoining of informalisation and immigration’ (Mingione 1999: 209). In the Journal of Economic Literature, Schneider and Enste (2000) maintain that ‘shadow or underground economic activity is a fact of life around the world and that there are strong indications that it is increasing’ (ibid: 70). According to them, the size of the informal economy in the Netherlands ranks somewhere in the middle of the OECD countries. They estimate that the shadow economy covers between thirteen and sixteen per cent of GNP, which is similar to countries like Ireland, France, Germany and Great Britain (ibid: 81) and which is significantly less than in countries like Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Greece. In nearly all countries under study, there are indications that the informal economy is gaining ground. Estimates of the size of the informal economy – and especially internationally comparative ones – should be treated carefully, as definitions are slippery and measurement problems obvious.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Looking for LoopholesProcesses of Incorporation of Illegal Immigrants in the Netherlands, pp. 35 - 58Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2003