LAUSR

Abstract This article transcends the dichotomy within the informal employment literature by proposing the notion of constrained voluntary informalisation that captures the integrated effect of structurally constrained forces and individual agency in driving the labour entry into informal employment. The notion is empirically elaborated with a case study of self-employed migrant workers in Chinese context, based on intensive interviews with 32 self-employed migrants in an urban village in Guangzhou. Three groups of self-employed migrant workers (i.e. the survivalist, over-exploited and developmentalist) are differentiated for analysis of their motivations for labour mobility. It is found that the labour entry into self-employment is jointly driven by labour market forces, such as unemployment and poor working conditions in waged sectors, that compel workers to seek alternative income opportunities, and the individuals' intention to fulfil their desires/needs, such as attainment of autonomy, balance of work and family responsibilities and pursuit of upward development. This article suggests the need for a more sensitive reading of structural circumstances in which workers make decisions and social needs workers try to meet through informal practices in understanding the causes of informalisation.