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Purpose To transcend the current debates about whether participation in the informal sector is a result of informal workers “exclusion” or their voluntary “exit” from the formal sector, the purpose of this paper is to propose and evaluate the existence of a dual informal labour market composed of an exit-driven “upper tier” and exclusion-driven “lower-tier” of informal workers.Design/methodology/approach To do this, data from a 2013 Eurobarometer survey involving 27,563 face-to-face interviews across the European Union is reported.Findings The finding is that in the European Union, there is a dual informal labour market with those participating in the informal sector due to their exclusion from the formal sector being half the number of those doing so to voluntarily exit the formal sector. Using a logistic regression analysis, the exclusion-driven “lower tier” is identified as significantly more likely to be populated by the unemployed and those living in East-Central Europe and the exit-driven “upper tier” by those with few financial difficulties and living in Nordic nations.Research limitations/implications The results reveal the need not only to transcend either/or debates about whether participants in the informal sector are universally exclusion-or exit-driven, and to adopt a both/and approach that recognises a dual informal labour market composed of an exit-driven upper tier and exclusion-driven lower tier, but also for wider research on the relative sizes of these two tiers in individual countries and other global regions, along with which groups populate these tiers.Originality/value This is the first evaluation of the internal dualism of the informal sector in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Grounded in an emergent recognition that those people in formal employment conduct the vast majority of work in the shadow economy, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate for the first time the degree to which shadow work is conducted by those in formal jobs and the characteristics of those in formal employment who participate in the shadow economy. Design/methodology/approach – To do this, the authors report a 2007 survey of participation in the shadow economy involving 26,659 face-to-face interviews conducted in 27 European Union (EU) member states. Findings – The finding is that in the EU, the formally employed undertake a disproportionate share of work in the shadow economy. Analysing the characteristics of the employed most likely to work in the shadow economy, however, it is those who benefit least from the formal economy, namely, younger unmarried men and on lower incomes living in rural areas, working in the construction sector and in small firms. Research limitations/implications – The outcome is a tentative call for recognition that although people in formal employment conduct the vast majority of work in the shadow economy, these are mostly particular vulnerable and weaker groups of the formally employed. Whether similar findings prevail at other spatial scales and in other global regions now needs investigating. Practical implications – This survey displays the need for policy not to target the unemployed but particular groups of the formally employed. Originality/value – The first extensive evaluation of the extent to which shadow work is conducted by those in formal jobs and the characteristics of those in formal employment who participate in the shadow economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]