During the reading Jobless Poverty I found Wilson's definition of a work interesting and lacking substance. He defines work in the formal sense as "regularity and consistency in schedules and hours". Yet he does not consider housework, baby-sitting, or drug dealing (not that I condone illegal work) as formal work. I think of formal work as anything a person does, whether that's for wages or not. I think of homemakers as formal work. They are constantly taking care of the home requirements and involving themselves with their children's activities, which is a 24 hr job; this seems very much so regular and consistent. Also nannying is a form of "babysitting", but according to Wilson this is not formal work. If I recall correctly, nannies are busy from the time the parents leave for their occupations to the time they return home. The schedule and hours seem quite regular and consistent to me. If Wilson's definition was to stand true, then people having executive positions would not be considered doing "work". Some executive positions only require work when needed; not very regular or consistent to me. They can receive a salary without lifting a finger for weeks. And yet they are seen as having the ultimate form of work in a formal economy.
This particular section of the article does not give a solid definition of "formal work" to me. I, originally and currently, define formal work as anything you can pay taxes on. To be honest, this is the only reason drug dealing is illegal; if Uncle Sam is not getting his portion, than it's considered illegal and not work in the formal economy.
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I see your point and understand your concerns. What he is talking about wrt formal work is that work which is recorded, has payroll taxes withheld, is counted for purposes of the census, etc. I think he would agree that nannies, housewives, etc. work just as hard if not harder, but their work is not counted in a formal sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteMany of those nanny/housework jobs are jobs that illegal immigrants can easily get. Since many illegals get these jobs, they cannot necessarily be paid with a check, most of the times they need to be paid under the table just so the government does not find out that the employer is hiring illegals.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are stating in the second and third paragraph. While babysitting for two twin toddlers I became very tired, very fast. I could not take a second to my self without one of them getting into trouble. While I did not pay taxes I would not get paid regularly and would not get the same amount per hour as the time before, which is part of the reason why many people do not see babysitting as a formal job.
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