The Logic of the Informal Economy

(a) Operationalization of the conceptual framework of informal employment and the informal economy

In all regions, women predominate in informal economy.

They're doing it through an outlaw thing, the informal economy.

Women workers in the informal economy are largely without social protection.

Estimated share of the informal sector in the economy in GDP (percentage)

Integration of the informal sector into the formal economy could increase contribution of the informal sector to economic growth and poverty eradication.

The hawala system of the informal economy is not authorized by the country's monetary authorities.

4 International Labour Organization, Women and Men in the Informal Economy A Statistical Picture (Geneva, 2002).

Developing country governments should reduce the share of the informal sector in an economy, through reform of the overall enabling environment for the formal economy.

6 Xaba J. and others, The Informal Sector in Sub Saharan Africa, Working Paper on the Informal Economy (Geneva, International Labour Office, 2002), p. 3, citing M. Chen, 2001.

The number of women working in the informal sector of the economy has increased rapidly in recent decades.

9. It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of Djibouti enterprises operate in the informal and semi informal sectors, including a large number of informal microenterprises which play a key role in the economy of the country.

CAMBRIDGE A specter is haunting the world s developing countries the specter of the informal economy. For some, the informal sector includes all businesses that have not been registered with the authorities.

It is interesting that the vast majority of youth work in the informal sector of the economy more than two thirds of young employed persons work in the grey economy .

This has special significance for most developing countries, where hundreds of millions of people operate in the informal economy, accounting for more than half of the economy in some cases.

The informal economy, it's sort of like dark energy in astrophysics it's not supposed to be there, but it's huge.

Similarly, trade policies often ignored the informal sector, which constitutes a substantial segment of the economy of many developing countries.

Micro entrepreneurs in the informal economy, the majority women, most often have no access to financing and long term capital.

The project addresses all aspects of these issues surrounding measurement of the informal sector and informal employment and attempts to place these new data within a framework covering the economy as a whole.

452. Microenterprises, which are strongly implicated in the development of the informal sector of the economy, are basically dependent upon informal forms of financing and the credit programmes of a great many NGOs.

Furthermore, people in the informal economy, the gray economy as time goes by, crime is happening around them. And they can join the criminal world, or they can join the legitimate world.

Greater attention must be given to the informal economy as it does not provide social protection and may deepen gender inequalities.

The Committee is concerned about the high percentage of unemployment in the State party and the size of its informal economy.

15. It is estimated that more than 80 per cent of enterprises are within the informal and semi informal sector, including a large number of informal micro enterprises, which play a key role in the economy of the country. III. Overview of the current situation

Some experts expressed fears about loss of jobs, because of the important role which the informal economy plays in the distribution sector.

Since 1990, urban unemployment and informal employment have increased, and the number of those employed in the formal economy has been decreasing.

199. The Committee also notes that unequal treatment of men and women is increasing, particularly in the informal sector of the economy.

Many issues otherwise considered as sensitive by the DPRK Government (e.g. informal economy, household expenditure and the deteriorating food security situation) were discussed.

The pattern of concentration of women's jobs at the lower end of the informal labour market replicates trends in the formal economy.8

The product keeps growing, as the formal economy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip has contracted and informal enterprises have grown.

The lack of economic statistics on indigenous populations is related to a fundamental lack of recognition of the informal economy in many countries.

Informal informal consultations

Women were also often employed in the informal employment market the Ministry of Trade was studying the extent of the problem of the informal economy with a view to bringing all workers, including women, into the formal, regulated economy where their rights could be protected, which would likewise provide increased revenue to the State.

There are continuing inequalities in access to decision making in the economy.33 Increasing numbers of women work under precarious conditions in the informal, unregulated economy with limited or no protection of their health and safety.

These have focused on organizing, giving special attention to the youth and to workers in EPZs and the informal economy, and to pay equity.

Yet rapid urbanization everywhere in Africa has given rise to a dynamic informal sector unconnected to the modern economy. Although marginalized by African officials, this cash based economy is a major contributor to the continent s productive capacity.

Broadly based improvements in the investment climate expand the pool of potential investors, increasing incentives of informal firms to become part of the formal economy.

As the modern sector of the economy cannot absorb much manpower, there has been a significant increase in employment in the informal, non traditional sector.

Historically, the informal economy had been based on agriculture, but the non agricultural informal workforce had grown in all regions of the world, particularly with the recent push for greater labour market flexibility and the corresponding erosion of labour rights.

The Committee urges the State party to take effective steps to reduce the unemployment rate as well as the percentage of employment in its informal economy.

In considering the third periodic report, the Committee expressed concern at the presence of women in the informal economy and in low paid service jobs (ibid.).

The discussion should be broadened to consider how to strengthen government institutions, and how corporations could contribute to reducing informal economic relationships by widening the formal economy.

Precarious, low paid, unprotected work in the informal economy is the growing lot of working women in many countries, both of the global north and the south.

These included (i) Namibia's initiative to carry out a full fledged survey of the informal sector and to introduce some questions on informal employment in the labour force surveys, (ii) the initiative of India to introduce a module on informal employment in the labour force survey undertaken from July 2004 to June 2005 and (iii) the efforts made by Fiji to estimate the contribution of the informal sector to its economy.