Informal Economic Activity in the Service Sector During the Pandemics of COVID-19

Abstract

In this contribution, we present the findings of our research on informal economic activity in the service sector during the pandemics of COVID-19. We found that approximately 28% of respondents were engaged in informal economic activity, while the most commonly purchased services were accommodation and food service activities and administrative and support service activities. Our results show that the primary reasons for such engagement were directly linked to the pandemics of COVID-19, which is an important finding for decision-makers. Based on the results of the research we believe that consumer habits have not shifted towards regular engagement in informal economic activities. Respondents also showed a general supportiveness of informal economic activities of ser-vice providers during the pandemics and lockdowns, which might indicate a dissatisfaction with the government restrictions on business activities. With the use of the Pearson chi-squared test, we found no association between the sex of the respondents and their engagement in the informal economic activity or their opinion on the legitimacy of service providers' activities during the pandemics and lockdowns. Keywords: Informal economic activity; Grey economy; Service sector; Survey; Association