Informal is the new normal: improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind

The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has given a new urgency to efforts to confront deficits in employment

Abstract

The adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has given a new urgency to efforts to confront deficits in employment. The authors take up the call to improve the working conditions of informal workers who face being left behind given that processes of formalisation are unlikely to incorporate them in the near term in many countries. Indeed, there is evidence that levels of informal employment are increasing. They stress the heterogeneity of the informal workforce in terms of, firstly, different types of workers (e.g. contributing family workers, homeworkers, informal wage workers and own-account workers) and, secondly, patterns of vulnerability, highlighting gender.

This work is part of the ‘Macroeconomics in Low-income countries’ programme

Citation

Elizabeth Stuart, Emma Samman and Abigail Hunt (2018) Informal is the new normal: improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind. Overseas Development Institute Workign paper 530

Informal is the new normal: improving the lives of workers at risk of being left behind

Published 1 January 2018