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2018 European Platform Undeclared Work Survey Report: Obstacles To Tackling Undeclared Work At The Cross-Border And National Levels, Bilateral And National Agreements, And Complaint Reporting Tools, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Responses were received from 45 authorities with responsibilities for tackling undeclared work in 25 Member States (MS), most of whom were labour inspectorates or Ministries of Labour. The issues covered: obstacles to tackling undeclared work at the cross-border and national levels; the use of bilateral and multilateral agreements, and the use of complaint reporting tools in Member States
An Evaluation Of The Scale Of Undeclared Work In The European Union And Is Structural Determinants: Estimates Using The Labour Input Method, Colin C. Williams, Josip Franic, Ioana Horodnic
An Evaluation Of The Scale Of Undeclared Work In The European Union And Is Structural Determinants: Estimates Using The Labour Input Method, Colin C. Williams, Josip Franic, Ioana Horodnic
Colin C Williams
On average, 11.6% of total labour input in the private sector in the EU is undeclared, and undeclared work constitutes on average 16.4% of gross value added (GVA) (the difference due to undeclared labour being concentrated in sectors with higher labour productivity).
These, however, are unweighted averages, and do not take into account the relative size of the labour force in each Member State. The weighted averages, therefore, are that 9.3% of total labour input in the private sector in the EU is undeclared, and undeclared work constitutes 14.3% of GVA in the private sector. The …
Dependent Self-Employment: Trends, Challenges And Policy Responses In The Eu, Colin C. Williams
Dependent Self-Employment: Trends, Challenges And Policy Responses In The Eu, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Across the EU28, there is not only a significant ‘jobs gap’ with only 70.1 per cent of
the working age population in jobs but also concerns over the quality of jobs. One
particular concern is that employees are being falsely classified as self-employed by
employers in order to circumvent collective agreements, labour laws (e.g., minimum
wages, working time legislation), employment tax and other employer liabilities implied
in the standard contract of employment, and that the emergent ‘gig’ or ‘platform’ economy
is accelerating this trend.
This report evaluates this emergent employment relationship, here termed ‘dependent’
self-employment, which covers those classified as …
Tackling Undeclared Work In Southeast Europe: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams
Tackling Undeclared Work In Southeast Europe: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Ø Undeclared work is socially accepted and widely practiced in Bulgaria, Croatia, and the FYR of Macedonia.
Ø More than 1 in 5 adults in these countries acknowledge that they have bought goods and services on the undeclared economy in the prior year. More than 1 in 12 report that they have undertaken undeclared work, and more than 1 in 10 declared employees report that they receive from their employer in addition to their declared salary an additional undeclared ‘envelope’ wage.
Ø But undeclared work differs across and within the three countries. For every …
Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov
Tackling Undeclared Work In Croatia: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers, Ruslan Stefanov
Colin C Williams
KEY POINTSØ Undeclared work has deep roots in Croatia. One in eleven declare to have done some fully undeclared work. Six out of ten though believe at least 20% of their compatriots violate tax and labour laws.
Ø The perception of the widespread nature of undeclared work and the lack of trust in formal institutions seem to be the main incentives for people to engage in undeclared work. These have been exacerbated by high unemployment and low retirement income.
Ø Hence, the conventional rational actor approach to tackling undeclared work that focuses upon increasing penalties …
Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers
Tackling Undeclared Work In Bulgaria: Knowledge-Informed Policy Responses, Ruslan Stefanov, Colin C. Williams, Peter Rodgers
Colin C Williams
KEY POINTS
Ø Undeclared work is socially accepted and widely practiced in Bulgaria. The undeclared economy is estimated at roughly a third of GDP. Nearly one in ten people do some undeclared work.
Ø Undeclared work is motivated primarily by lack of trust between the people and the authorities.It involves mostly people who voluntarily exit the declared economy but also those that are excluded.
Ø The conventional repressive approach to tackling undeclared work has exhausted its effects in Bulgaria. It should be complemented with more curative, preventative and commitment policies.
Ø Policymakers …
Illegitimate Economic Practices In Bulgaria: Findings From A Representative Survey Of 2,005 Citizens, Colin C. Williams, Junhong Yang
Illegitimate Economic Practices In Bulgaria: Findings From A Representative Survey Of 2,005 Citizens, Colin C. Williams, Junhong Yang
Colin C Williams
This report presents the findings of a survey on illegitimate economic practices in Bulgaria conducted between July and October 2015. This representative survey of 2005 citizens focused on the experiences of Bulgarians with undeclared work, envelope wages and the practice of “pulling strings”, as well as on their opinion about these types of dishonest behaviour.
According to the respondents, illegitimate economic practices are strongly ingrained in Bulgarian society. According to the estimation of Schneider (2013), the undeclared economy accounts for 31% of GDP in Bulgaria in 2013, which is the highest estimation for any country in the EU-28. According to …
Assessment Of Under-Declared Employment In Croatia, Colin C. Williams, Miroslav Radvansky, Miroslav Stefanik
Assessment Of Under-Declared Employment In Croatia, Colin C. Williams, Miroslav Radvansky, Miroslav Stefanik
Colin C Williams
This report evaluates ‘under-declared employment’, which is the practice where a formal employer pays a formal employee an official declared wage but also an additional undeclared (envelope) wage in order to evade the full social insurance and tax liabilities owed. The aim is to evaluate the prevalence, characteristics and distribution of this fraudulent wage practice in Croatia, to explain its existence, and to provide an evidence-based evaluation of the different policy approaches for tackling it, and a set of policy recommendations.
Illegitimate Economic Practices In Fyr Macedonia, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Illegitimate Economic Practices In Fyr Macedonia, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Colin C Williams
This report presents the findings of a survey on illegitimate economic practices in FYR Macedonia conducted between August and October 2015. This representative survey of 2,014 citizens focused on their experiences with undeclared work, envelope wages and the practice of ‘pulling strings’, as well as on their opinion about these types of non-compliant behaviour.
According to the respondents, non-compliant practices are strongly ingrained in Macedonian society. Some 35% use personal connections in order to circumvent rules and procedures, 17.7% purchase undeclared goods and services, 6.1% work in the undeclared economy and 13% of employees receive envelope wages from their employer. …
Paying For Favours: Evaluating The Role Of Blat In Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams
Paying For Favours: Evaluating The Role Of Blat In Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To evaluate whether the illicit practice of using personal connections to
acquire goods and services, or to circumvent formal procedures, known as
blat in the Soviet era, persists in the post-Soviet world, 200 face-to-face
interviews conducted in the city of Mykolayiv in Ukraine are reported. The
finding is that personal networks are still commonly and widely used.
However, unlike Soviet era blat which was non-monetized friendly help,
control over access to assets and possessing personal connections to those
controlling access to assets, has become a commodity bought and sold for
illicit monetary payments. The paper concludes by discussing how this …
Evaluating The Variations In Undeclared Work In The Eu28, Colin C. Williams
Evaluating The Variations In Undeclared Work In The Eu28, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Drawing upon the results of 26,659 face-to-face interviews in the 27 member states of the
European Union (EU-27), the aim of this paper is to evaluate its varying magnitude and
whether such work is mostly wage-based (of an envelope wage or undeclared variety) or
own-account work (of a market-oriented or solidarity-oriented variety). The finding is
that in ‘welfare capitalist’ work and welfare regimes, which are more equal (measured by
the gini coefficient) pursue more extensive labour market interventions, have higher
levels of social protection and greater state redistribution, undeclared economies are
smaller and are composed mostly of solidarity-oriented own-account work. …
Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers
Rethinking The Nature Of Community Economies: Some Lessons From Post-Soviet Ukraine, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin, Peter Rodgers
Colin C Williams
This paper contributes to a small but growing body of thought that
has questioned the hegemony of capitalism by revealing the
persistence of multifarious economic practices in everyday community
economies. To further advance this school of thought, first, a
conceptual framework is developed to map the diverse economic
practices used by communities and second, this is applied through a
survey of 600 households in Ukraine. The outcome is to reveal that
just as multifarious economic practices prevailed under state
socialism, the same applies in societies in transition to capitalism,
suggesting that there are alternative futures for community economies
beyond market …
Work Beyond Employment: Representations Of Informal Economic Activities, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Work Beyond Employment: Representations Of Informal Economic Activities, Colin C. Williams, Sara Nadin
Colin C Williams
For much of the previous century, the informal sector was largely represented as a residue of a
previous mode of production confined to marginal populations and gradually disappearing due to
the inevitable and natural shift towards the formal economy across the globe. Over the past quarter
of a century, however, articles published in Work, Employment and Society have been at the forefront
of re-reading the informal sector. This article reveals how this body of literature has shown informal
economic activities to be a persistent and ubiquitous feature of the economic landscape, mapped
the complex and variable dynamics of formal and …