Keywords
underground economy
informal commerce
How to Cite
Abstract
The present work characterizes the informal business of the Maule Region in Chile. It identifies causes, limitations and participants‘ motivations as well as compliance with legal, sanitary and labor regulations. A questionnaire was administered to a random sample in six cities that included four provincial capitals and two medium size cities. The survey reveals that the majority of the participants have a low educational background, an average age of 45 years, possess some type of municipal permit, and do not have the minimal work and health conditions. Nonetheless, although they face social neglect, the participants expressed no desire to change their present labor situation which confirms that the informal economy is their life style.By submitting a contribution to consideration of the Editorial Board of Fórum Empresarial, the authors attest that it is an original, unpublished work, which has not been nor will be simultaneously submitted to another journal for consideration and publication; that they are responsible for the work carried out and the content of the article; and they have the corresponding copyrights.
The authors grant the right of first publication of their work to Fórum Empresarial, in any medium and physical and electronic format, including internet. Publication shall be subject to the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which allows third parties to share the work, provided that the author and Fórum Empresarial (as a first publication) are cited.
The journal allows authors to retain publishing rights without restrictions. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in Fórum Empresarial.