The Turkish labour market, like that of many developing
economies, is characterised by widespread recourse to informal jobs. Several
measures have recently been taken by the Turkish authorities to limit the
extent of this tendency. These are in keeping with the dynamic process of
accession to the EU to which Turkey has been committed since the opening
of negotiations in October 2005. From Household Labour Force surveys
conducted by the Turkish Statistical Institute, the study presented here depicts
a panorama of informal employment in Turkey before the implementation
of these measures. It responds to the need expressed by the Council of
the European Union to have an analysis of undeclared work. From a descriptive
analysis of the main features of informal jobs and from the estimation
of the probability of informal employment, it brings out a number of
lessons on how to target policies to combat informal employment in Turkey
and on the people who encounter the greatest difficulties in accessing or
participating in the market.