Beyond Negative Depictions of Informal Employment: Some Lessons from Moscow

• Published in: Urban studies (Edinburgh, Scotland) Vol. 44; no. 12; pp. 2321 - 2338
• Main Authors: Williams, Colin C., Round, John
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England Routledge Journal, Taylor & Francis Ltd 01.11.2007; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Business; Cohesion; Economic conditions; Economic development; Economic surveys; Employment; Forced labor; Households; Informal economy; Informal Sector; International economics; Labor Market; Labour market; Markets; Moscow, Russia; Mutual aid; Postcommunist Societies; Public interest; Russian Federation; Self employment; Self help; Social Cohesion; Social development; Socialism; Urban areas; Urban Development; Urban economics; Wages; Work; Russia, Moscow
• ISSN: 0042-0980; 1360-063X
• DOI: 10.1080/00420980701540945

Informal employment is conventionally viewed as residual, marginal and sweatshoplike work that impairs urban economic development and social cohesion. Reporting data from 313 interviews conducted with Moscow households during 2005/06, this negative reading is found to apply to just one segment of the informal labour market in this post-socialist city—namely, informal waged employment. Examining the multiple types of informal employment conducted on an own-account basis, more positive impacts emerge of this sphere as the key seedbed for enterprise development and principal mechanism for delivering community selfhelp.The outcome is a call for a finer-grained understanding and more nuanced policy approach towards informal employment that recognises its plurality of forms and their varying consequences for economic development and social cohesion.