El trabajo informal en los Estados Unidos: informalización, inmigración y emprendimiento en el trabajo

Informal work, labor that is otherwise legal but is not protected by the standard labor laws and social insurance programs that cover other work, is widespread in the United States, and informalization, which means shifting of employment toward informality, even more so. Recent estimates of participation in “off the books” work run as high as 36% of the adult population, and two-thirds of a sample of low-wage workers had experienced employment law violations in the previous week. Informal employment over-represents transnational migrants. Actions by multiple actors contribute to informal employment. U. S. employers engage in informalization via the “fissuring” of jobs, splitting them into less protected statuses. The country’s national, regional, and local states help shape the degree of informalization by their implementation (or not) of employment law, policies on migration, and other actions. Vulnerable groups of workers pursue informal employment or self-employment as a survival strategy, whereas better-off workers self-employ to gain autonomy, flexibility, or fulfillment. Collective, organizing responses by groups of workers, primarily through civil society organizations known as “worker centers”, have been growing. This article offers a comprehensive review and a conceptual discussion of what we know about informal work in the United States.