underground economy

underground economy, transaction of goods or services not reported to the government and therefore beyond the reach of tax collectors and regulators. The term may refer either to illegal activities or to ordinarily legal activities performed without the securing of required licenses and payment of taxes. Examples of legal activities in the underground economy include unreported income from self-employment or barter. Illegal activities include drug dealing, trade in stolen goods, smuggling, illegal gambling, and fraud.

Unreported economic activity tends to occur when excessive taxes, regulations, price controls, or state monopolies interfere with market exchanges. Failure to recognize or enforce private property rights and contractual agreements may also encourage underground economic activities. Measurement of the underground economy is difficult because, by definition, its activities are not included in any government records. Its size may be extrapolated from sample surveys and tax audits or estimated from national accounting and labour force statistics. Because the underground economy is sensitive to fluctuations in global and national economies, its size is subject to change, growing in times of recession, for example, or shrinking in response to increased penalties for tax evasion.

People work in the underground economy for a variety of reasons. Employers may have incentives such as avoiding government fees and licensing requirements, labour union involvement, and payment of payroll taxes. Most labourers working off the books do so to supplement their mainstream jobs, which often provide benefits such as health care and pensions as well as a visible source of income if the worker should attract the attention of the authorities. This unreported moonlighting is especially prevalent in European countries, where holding a second job is often illegal. In the United States, working off the books is often motivated by a desire to avoid income taxes and increase income.

Some workers in the underground economy have no mainstream jobs. Most of these are people who lack the skills, social networks, or documentation necessary to obtain jobs in the mainstream economy. The jobs held by these people, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, often pay below the legal minimum wage and fail to comply with government standards of health and safety. Some full-time underground economy workers with marketable technical skills choose this type of work because the jobs may pay more than mainstream jobs. A third category of workers prefers jobs in the underground economy because of the personal freedom provided by temporary, irregular work.

Whether the underground economy is seen as harmful or helpful depends on one’s values and political philosophy. Those who look to the state as the guarantor of fair wages and labour practices see the growth of the underground economy as a major threat to social welfare. The nonpayment of taxes from this sector reduces money available for social programs, and the workers do not enjoy the legal protections afforded to mainstream workers. Mainstream companies may complain of unfair competition from underground enterprises that do not have to pay taxes or minimum wages. Where there is significant underground economic activity, as in construction, wage standards of the entire industry may be lowered over a wide region.