In this paper we document the extensive informal sector of unpaid productive labour in an isolated, peripheral area in Canada. The study is based on interviews with all adults in 250 households. We consider various socio-economic characteristics as determinants of participation in the informal economy with respect to home construction, other types of subsistence activity and the unpaid work that is done for other households. Our central hypothesis is that the extent of participation is independent of socio-economic status. Our analysis challenges the general adequacy of accounts by Pahl and by neo-Marxist authors. We argue that the informal economy is best understood partly as a constructive response to deprivation and partly because many of the activities are culturally valued.
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