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Making Ends Meet: The Role of Informal Work in Supplementing Americans’ Income

Author

Listed:
  • Katharine G. Abraham

    (University of Maryland)

  • Susan N. Houseman

    (W.E. Upjohn Institute)

Abstract

Data from the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking indicate that, over the course of a month, more than one-quarter of adults engage in some informal work outside of a main job. Of these, about two-thirds say that they do informal work to earn money and about one-third say that informal work is an important source of household income. Informal work plays a particularly important role in the household finances of minorities, the less educated, those experiencing financial hardship, those who work part time involuntarily, independent contractors, and the unemployed. Aggregate earnings from informal work are modest but help many households to make ends meet. Informal work cannot compensate, however, for the lack of benefits typical of part-time and contractor work.

Suggested Citation

  • Katharine G. Abraham & Susan N. Houseman, 2019. "Making Ends Meet: The Role of Informal Work in Supplementing Americans’ Income," Upjohn Working Papers 19-315, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:19-315
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lawrence F. Katz & Alan B. Krueger, 2016. "The Rise and Nature of Alternative Work Arrangements in the United States, 1995-2015," NBER Working Papers 22667, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Cody Cook & Rebecca Diamond & Jonathan V Hall & John A List & Paul Oyer, 2021. "The Gender Earnings Gap in the Gig Economy: Evidence from over a Million Rideshare Drivers [Measuring the Gig Economy: Current Knowledge and Open Issues]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 88(5), pages 2210-2238.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Charlene Marie Kalenkoski & Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2022. "Impacts of COVID-19 on the self-employed," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 741-768, February.
    2. Abraham, Katharine G. & Hershbein, Brad & Houseman, Susan N., 2021. "Contract work at older ages," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 426-447, July.
    3. Katharine G. Abraham & Brad Hershbein & Susan N. Houseman & Beth C. Truesdale, 2023. "The Independent Contractor Workforce: New Evidence on Its Size and Composition and Ways to Improve Its Measurement in Household Surveys," Upjohn Working Papers 23-380, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    4. Sung‐Hee Jeon & Huju Liu & Yuri Ostrovsky, 2021. "Measuring the gig economy in Canada using administrative data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 54(4), pages 1638-1666, November.
    5. KURODA Sachiko & ONISHI Koichiro, 2023. "Exploring the Gig Economy in Japan: A bank data-driven analysis of food delivery gig workers," Discussion papers 23025, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    informal work; gig work; independent contractors; income adequacy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • J48 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Particular Labor Markets; Public Policy

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