Work in Britain's Informal Economy: Learning from Road‐Side Hand Car Washes

Abstract The United Kingdom has over 10,000 hand car washes (HCWs). This article examines two research questions: what do HCWs reveal about the informalization of employment? and what is the prospect of regulation of them? Setting HCWs in a theoretical framework shows that they are part of a growing industry which is becoming an increasingly familiar and visible part of the economy, where control of labour costs is a key factor. Employers make a strategic choice to engage precarious and vulnerable, usually migrant, labour securing further competitive advantage at the cost of pronounced labour exploitation and long hours — the tendency towards informalization. Therein a low‐cost business model disciplines competition to usurp higher productivity mechanized car washing.