Work in Britain’s informal economy: learning from road-side hand car washes

Clark, I. ORCID: 0000-0001-7698-2715 and Colling, T., 2018. Work in Britain’s informal economy: learning from road-side hand car washes. British Journal of Industrial Relations: an International Journal of Employment Relations, 56 (2), pp. 320-341. ISSN 0007-1080

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Abstract

The UK has over 10,000 Hand Car Washes (HCWs). This article examines two research questions; what do HCWs reveal about the informalization of employment? and what is the prospect of regulation of them? Setting HCWs in a theoretical framework shows that they are part of a growing industry It is becoming an increasingly familiar and visible part of the economy, and is able to use informalization in employment where control of labour costs is a key factor. Employers make a strategic choice to engage precarious and vulnerable usually migrant labour securing further competitive advantage at the cost of pronounced labour exploitation and long hours – the tendency towards informalization. Therein a low-cost business model disciplines competition to usurp higher productivity mechanized car washing.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	British Journal of Industrial Relations: an International Journal of Employment Relations
Creators:	Clark, I. and Colling, T.
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Date:	June 2018
Volume:	56
Number:	2
ISSN:	0007-1080
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/bjir.12286 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Jill Tomkinson
Date Added:	05 Dec 2017 14:16
Last Modified:	05 Mar 2020 12:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/32138

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