The submerged economy as a trap and a buffer: comparative evidence on long-term youth unemployment and the risk of social exclusion in southern and northern Europe

Apart from the economic support (constant or otherwise depending on the individual in question) that the submerged economy may provide to long-term unemployed young people, everything else (on the one hand the alleviation of social isolation, on the other hand involvement in a vicious circle of marginalization; the maintaining of some form of contact with the world of work, but at the same time the worsening of the individual’s chances of ever getting a regular job, and so on) may vary considerably. Such variations depend on the kind of job done, the skills and training of the individual, the gap separating the irregular job a person in fact does and the regular one he hopes to find, and so on. With regard to the link between irregular employment and the risk of social exclusion, there is evidence that certain features of the submerged economy make long-term unemployment more bearable from the economic and social points of view. However, it also has to be said that it may lead to the partial social recognition of those individuals in question. In denying access to the collective identity normally associated with regular employment, the submerged economy denies individuals the full experience of inter-subjective recognition which lies at the basis of their very integrity. Among other things, this incomplete recognition, within a socio-political context characterised by an increasing divide between standard employment, accompanied by full social integration, and precarious employment, of which irregular employment is the most extreme example may lead to splits and conflicts among workers themselves