be time-consuming and difficult. Most small-scale operations take place without any real enforcement effort. Landscaping is a good example of a cash-based business that is frequently unreported. In the United States, authorities have focused enforcement resources on large-scale operations like undocumented immigrants who are employed by large companies. Discovery and enforcement of small-scaled unreported employment is typically through a secondary indiscretion like fraud, tax irregularities, and unrelated or partially-related civil/criminal violations of the employer or employee. Although the federal and/or state government may arrest, prosecute, and imprison an individual for engaging in commerce without the state's approval, the high cost of such enforcement is usually prohibitive and impossible except for the most egregious cases. Examples United States According to a The New York Times report in February 2013, the Obama administration had demonstrated a new strategy to curb the employment of undocumented immigrants by focusing on companies that hire them in the first place. By concentrating on the businesses employing the large numbers of unauthorized workers, the number of undocumented immigrants working in the US would drop dramatically. The US government would be doing so in a less confrontational manner than in recent years. American Apparel incident In 2009, an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement audit of American Apparel's employment records uncovered discrepancies in the documentation of about 25% of the company's workers, implying mainly that they were undocumented immigrants. American Apparel terminated the employment of about 1,500 employees that September as a result. ICE did not accuse American Apparrel of knowingly employing workers without employment authorization, however, and American Apparel received no fines. See also Side job Informal economy Black market Illegal immigration U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) References External links Reflections on the Meaning and Measurement of Unobserved Economies:What do we really know about the "Shadow Economy"? by Edgar L.Feige Journal of Tax Administration 2016, Vol. 2, No. 1 US Immigration and working under the table European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Labour law Tax resistance Black markets Employment Informal economy Crime