This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Williams, C. C. Articles by Round, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Beyond Negative Depictions of Informal Employment: Some Lessons from Moscow

School of Management, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 4DT, UK, C.C.Williams{at}sheffield.ac.uk

John Round

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK, j.round{at}bham.ac.uk

Informal employment is conventionally viewed as residual, marginal and sweatshop-like 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 self-help. 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.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?