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.