Holistic Approach to Tackling Undeclared Work and Developing National Strategies

Abstract

At the Plenary meeting on 25 October 2019, the Platform decided to set up a working group on 'Holistic approaches to tackling undeclared work and developing national strategies'.

The specific focus for this working group – as per activity 5 of the Platform's work programme 2019-2020 – is as follows: ‘Focusing on the importance of collaboration of key stakeholders/authorities, how this can be achieved cross-border and nationally, on developing national strategies and practical cooperation models and exploring how social partners can be more involved.‘

As per the Working Group’s mandate, its focus is on the three following elements:

1. Strategic shift from “reducing undeclared work” to “transforming undeclared work into declared work”.

2. Developing a whole government coordinated approach, including 1) Developing effective coordination across government departments, national enforcement agencies and with social partners 2) Coordination on operations.

3. Implementing the ‘tackling undeclared work approach’ as defined in the Platform decision. ‘Tackling’, in relation to undeclared work, means preventing, deterring and combating undeclared work as well as promoting the declaration of undeclared work

This Working Group report documents Platform members’ experiences and challenges faced in developing this holistic approach. To do so, each component of the holistic approach is considered in terms of: (i) the major challenges faced; (ii) tips for overcoming these challenges and (iii) examples of good practice that are potentially transferable to other Member States.

Keywords: undeclared work, informal economy, informal sector, public policy, labour economics, economic sociology, European Union.

JEL Classification: H26, J46, K42, O17, P37