REFAIR: Regulating the Grey Zone: Fairness, Informality, and the Boundaries of Work

Undeclared and under-declared work remain a persistent challenge across Europe. It poses economic and social threats because it leads to revenue losses, weakens social insurance systems, and makes workers susceptible to exploitation and poor working conditions. The EU-funded REFAIR project is exploring the broader institutional and societal drivers behind informal employment. Through a comprehensive, multi-system comparative analysis across Europe, the project studies labour formality through the lens of policy design, empirical patterns, and public perception. Using insights gained from recently conducted survey and ethnographic studies, the project seeks to make recommendations towards establishing fair labour market regulations.

REFAIR seeks to develop new paradigms for understanding and responding to the phenomena of under- and undeclared work. Going beyond standard conceptions of informal work as the non-payment of taxes and social security contributions, we will engage in a multi-systems comparative institutional analysis of how types of un(under)declared work are constructed, rationalised, operationalised and addressed across European country contexts. Based on new indicators of ‘fairness’ as a multi-dimensional concept, REFAIR  advances our understanding of un(der)declared work by focusing on three key elements of fairness: (1) fairness in how laws and policies are designed to promote and regulate labour formality; (2) fairness in relation to the nature of un(der)declared work, including its scale, patterns, drivers and risk factors un(der)declared work in the light of new data on its scale and characteristics; and (3) fairness in terms of how individual and institutional actors perceive informal employment practices and policies. Examining tensions between and within these three elements of fairness, REFAIR aims to identify innovative, context-sensitive and sustainable policy responses.

To achieve these goals, REFAIR employs a robust mixed-methods approach, including: legal analysis; a labour survey on the prevalence and drivers, a survey on the public perceptions of un(der)declared work; and qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, ethnography and co-designed case studies in six countries representing diverse welfare and labour market regimes. By engaging stakeholders in co-creation and embedding informal work within broader debates on precarious labour, welfare governance, and economic justice, REFAIR will generate actionable insights for more inclusive, effective, and equitable labour market regulation across Europe and beyond.