Features of the hidden labour in Italy. An empirical analysis based on the matching of survey and administrative data

In this paper, record linkage is applied to detect hidden (or irregular) workers in the Italian labour market. The idea is to trace each single worker in a survey as well as in a set of administrative registers, where the worker should appear if regular. When a worker is sampled by the survey but he does not appear in any of the administrative registers, that worker is identified as irregular. Subsequently, we estimate a logistic regression model to identify the individual and household features, which characterize the typical hidden Italian worker.