Subsidized Household Services and Informal Employment: The Belgian Service Voucher Policy

Labour markets for personal and household services (PHS) are rife with informal employment. Some policies aim to combat informality in PHS with subsidized service vouchers, but their effects are poorly documented. This contribution evaluates the Belgian service vouchers (1) documenting their formalization effectiveness, and (2) accounting for the persistence of informal employment. To this end, we exploit several types of data and methods. A first analysis, based on Eurobarometer data, brings in evidence that informal PHS purchased were approximately halved under the policy introduced in 2001.... Mehr ...