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Informal But Not Insignificant: Unregistered Workers In North Cyprus

Author

Listed:
  • Glenn Jenkins
  • Mustafa Besim

    (Department of Banking and Finance, Eastern Mediterranean University)

Abstract

The size of the informal labour force and its contribution to the national income of North Cyprus has been an issue of considerable controversy and political significance. Because of the relatively free movement of labour between Turkey and North Cyprus, a significant body of unregistered workers have accumulated in North Cyprus. The findings are that from 1996 to 2000 the informal employment is between 35 to 40 per cent of the total labour force. Because not all the informal sectors production is excluded from the official national income statistics, the understatement of the official statistics is estimated to be between 12 to 17 percent of GNP. The fiscal losses are estimated to be about 9 percent of total tax revenues and a loss of social security revenues is approximately 38 per cent of the total annual contributions.

Suggested Citation

  • Glenn Jenkins & Mustafa Besim, 2006. "Informal But Not Insignificant: Unregistered Workers In North Cyprus," Working Paper 1058, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1058
    as

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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1058.pdf
    File Function: First version 2006
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dominik H. Enste & Friedrich Schneider, 2000. "Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 77-114, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hasan Yuksel, 2021. "An Investigation on the Link between International Labor Migration and Undocumented Employment: Evidence from Turkish Cinema," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 64(64), pages 21-46, December.
    2. Tufan Ekici & Mustafa Besim, 2016. "A Measure of the Shadow Economy in a Small Economy: Evidence from Household-Level Expenditure Patterns," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(1), pages 145-160, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cyprus; informal sector; informal labour force; fiscal losses; unrecorded income; underground economy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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