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Martha Alter Chen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Informal Employment Revisited: Theories, Data & Policies
The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 2020Co-Authors: Martha Alter Chen, Joann VanekAbstract:Introduction Informal employment is back on the policy agenda. (1) It represents a major share of the workforce in most developing countries and is on the rise in developed countries. Across the developing world, the majority of informal Workers are poor; and the majority of working poor are informally employed. Adding to these policy concerns are the lingering impacts of the Great Recession on employment and the global crisis of youth unemployment. This paper seeks to provide a summary overview of recent rethinking and recent data on informal employment, particularly in developing countries. Section I details two international statistical definitions--of "informal sector" and "informal employment"--and presents recent data on non-agricultural informal employment. Section II discusses to "formalize the informal economy" debate and presents a comprehensive framework for responding to informal enterprises and informal employment. Section III analyzes why existing labor market models and regulations need to be re-examined in light of the reality and complexity of informal employment today. The paper concludes that employment should be the cornerstone of the development agenda and that economic diversity should be the cornerstone of the future economy. I. Statistical Definitions & Data International Statistical Definitions: In 1993, the International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted an international statistical definition of the "informal sector" to refer to employment and production that takes place in unincorporated small and/or unregistered enterprises. But soon thereafter, beginning in 1997, the International Labor Office (ILO), the international Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics (called the Delhi Group), and the global network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) began working together to broaden the concept and definition to incorporate certain types of informal employment that had not been included in the enterprise-based concept and definition of the informal sector. They sought to include the whole of work-related informality, as it is manifested in industrialized, transition and developing economies and the real world dynamics in labor markets today, particularly the employment arrangements of the working poor. The expanded definition focuses on the nature of employment in addition to the characteristics of enterprises and includes all types of informal employment both inside and outside informal enterprises. This expanded definition was endorsed by the International Labor Conference (ILC) in 2002 and the International Conference of Labor Statisticians (ICLS) in 2003: statisticians refer to this expanded notion as "informal employment." Informal employment is, by design, a large and heterogeneous category. For purposes of analysis and policymaking it is useful to, first, sub-divide informal employment into self-employment and wage employment, and then within these broad categories, into more homogeneous sub-categories according to status in employment, as follows: (2) Informal self-employment including: * employers in informal enterprises * own account Workers in informal enterprises * Contributing Family Workers (in informal and formal enterprises) * members of informal producers' cooperatives (where these exist) Informal wage employment: employees hired without social protection contributions by formal or informal enterprises or as paid domestic Workers by households. Certain types of wage work are more likely than others to be informal. These include: * employees of informal enterprises * casual or day labourers * temporary or part-time Workers * paid domestic Workers * contract Workers * unregistered or undeclared Workers * industrial outWorkers (also called home Workers) This expanded definition extends the focus from enterprises that are not legally regulated to include employment relationships that are not legally regulated or socially protected. …
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Legal Reforms for the Self-Employed: Three Urban Cases
The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 2014Co-Authors: Martha Alter Chen, Roopa Madhav, Kamala SankaranAbstract:Introduction The need to balance job creation with basic protection for Workers--to make economic growth inclusive--is a major challenge for the early 21st century. In India, as in most countries, labor laws rest on the assumption of a clear employer-employee relationship, and commercial laws rest on the assumption of incorporated enterprises with documented accounts. But eighty per cent of the urban workforce in India is informal, and half of urban informal Workers are self-employed (Chen & Raveendran, 2011, updated 2014). The mismatch between the existing legal frameworks around employment and the existing employment structure creates a major challenge for policy makers and calls for significant legal reform. At the beginning of the 21st century, employment grew at a faster rate per year in urban India than in rural India (Chandrasekhar & Ghosh, 2007). As of 2004-05, over half (54%) of the urban working age (15+) population was in the labor force, either actively working or actively seeking work: 79 percent of men and 24 per cent of women (ibid). But since 2004-05, there has been a marked slowdown in employment growth in both rural and urban India. By 2011-12, just under half (49%) of the urban working age population was in the labor force: 76 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women (Chen & Raveendran, 2011, updated 2014). This slowdown in employment growth was accompanied by a decline in self-employment, which had been growing. By 2011-12, the shares of self-employment and wage employment in total urban employment had reverted to their 1999-00 levels: at 42 and 58 per cent, respectively (ibid). However, the urban informal workforce was almost evenly divided between self-employment (51%) and wage employment (49%) in 2011-12. There are three main categories of the self-employed: employers (who hire others), own account Workers (who run single person or Family enterprises without hired Workers), and unpaid Contributing Family Workers. In 2011-12, 38 per cent of the urban informal workforce (39% of men and 31 % of women) were own account Workers; 11 per cent (8% of men and 20% of women) were unpaid Contributing Family Workers; and only 3 per cent of men and 0.5 per cent of women were employers (ibid). This article examines what laws and regulations impinge on--and what legal reforms are needed for--three groups of informal self-employed in urban India: home-based Workers, street vendors and waste pickers. In 2011-12, these three groups combined represented one-fifth of the total urban workforce in India: home-based Workers (15%), street vendors (4%) and waste pickers (1%). Home-based work was particularly significant for women: representing almost a third (32%) of the female urban workforce. The article describes the conditions of employment and work processes of these three groups, and introduces key organizations of these Workers in India. It then examines the legal demands of these organizations of Workers. Finally it draws out some lessons for legal reforms for the self-employed in India and elsewhere. This article draws on findings and recommendations from three multi-country initiatives led by the global network WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing): an on-going program to improve official national statistics on informal employment around the world; a 2012 study of urban informal Workers in 10 cities/9 countries (including waste pickers in Pune and home-based Workers plus street vendors in Ahmedabad); and a multi-year project on law and informality in four countries (Ghana, India, Peru and Thailand). Many of the sector-specific findings, as well as recommendations of the 10-city study and the 4-country project, are common across the different cities and countries. In other words, what is detailed below about legal reforms for home-based Workers, street vendors and waste pickers is not unique to India. Home-Based Workers Home-based Workers produce goods or services for the market from their own homes or adjacent grounds and premises: stitching garments and weaving textiles; making craft products; processing and preparing food items; assembling or packaging electronics, automobile parts, and pharmaceutical products; selling goods or providing services (laundry, haircutting, beautician services); or doing clerical or professional work, among other activities. …
Muhammad Zahid Naeem - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Employment Status and Workforce in the Formal and Informal Sector: A Case Study of District Lahore
Journal of Political Studies, 2017Co-Authors: Durdana Qaiser Gillani, Muhammad Zahid NaeemAbstract:I. IntroductionHistorically, high population growth rate has been considered as an essential factor in overall economic development of Pakistan economy. The government made commitments to allocate funds and to measure on an innovative policy in order to highlight the issue seriously managing growth in population and the labor force. However, population is growing at a very high rate but the employment opportunities are limited to employ this high labor force. Improved health facilities and promoted population welfare activities through the Ministry of Population Welfare declined the crude birth and fertility rates significantly, that causes a curtailment in the average growth of the population accompanied by an increased labor force participation rate.In fact, the formal sector is incapable to absorb a growing labour force in the economy. However, formal sector also generate employment too for the labour force and its role is also important in employment. So that's why a greater part of labor force is forced to work in informal sector employment. The role of informal sector is imperative to create more employment opportunities in labor market in Pakistan economy. It provides jobs and also diminishes unemployment. It is also true that the productivity of labor is at low level and Workers are not given protection against exploitation by the employers. Consequently, the informal sector must be promoted to employ the surplus labor. Govet should enhance the labor productivity in the informal sector and to protect the Workers from exploitation in informal sector.The table shows the share of the informal sector participants. The employment status predominantly consists in the categories of employees (46.4%) and own-account Workers (41.9). The former organizes the largest share of females (49.1%) and latter, of males (42.4%). It is observed that about one in ten (9.6%) as Contributing Family worker and near one in fifty (2.1%) comprises employers. It is also reported that male Contributing Family Workers (9.2%) are about two-third of females (12.9%). As far change during the comparative periods, all seem to be declining except own account Workers (40.5%, 41.9%).Govt has been identified different strategies tocreate new opportunities, and to decrease underemployment and unemployment. There is a serious need to create employment opportunities due to higher labor force growth rate as compared to population growth. The informal sector is defined to include the wage Workers, own-account Workers, employers and unpaid Family Workers because these Workers are participating in small-scale economic activities to generate income. The share of informal sector is high in the urban labour market. Due to its importance, this study attempts to highlight its role in the employment and income generation. The major objective of the study is to highlight the determinants of different employment status in the urban informal sector of district Lahore.II. Literature ReviewThe literature on informal sector is reviewed. As Shah (1975) worked on determinants of labor force participation. The author used data from survey 1968-69 (PIS). The results showed that there was a positive relationship that forty and above age group, greater period of marriage and to a lesser extent the numbers of surviving children and labor force participation. Conversely, highly educated women with highly educated husbands were negatively related with labor force participation. The results also indicated that labor force participation decreased with ownership of agricultural land and durable items.Simpson et al. (1997) investigated the estimates of casual employment from 1984 to 1993 in Australia. The study results indicated that it expanded over the period very quickly as a ratio of the total Workers. It was also found that the casual employment was considered a separate industrial distribution in Australia. Moreover, casual employed Workers were comprised more than 40 percent in other professions. …
Joann Vanek - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Informal Employment Revisited: Theories, Data & Policies
The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 2020Co-Authors: Martha Alter Chen, Joann VanekAbstract:Introduction Informal employment is back on the policy agenda. (1) It represents a major share of the workforce in most developing countries and is on the rise in developed countries. Across the developing world, the majority of informal Workers are poor; and the majority of working poor are informally employed. Adding to these policy concerns are the lingering impacts of the Great Recession on employment and the global crisis of youth unemployment. This paper seeks to provide a summary overview of recent rethinking and recent data on informal employment, particularly in developing countries. Section I details two international statistical definitions--of "informal sector" and "informal employment"--and presents recent data on non-agricultural informal employment. Section II discusses to "formalize the informal economy" debate and presents a comprehensive framework for responding to informal enterprises and informal employment. Section III analyzes why existing labor market models and regulations need to be re-examined in light of the reality and complexity of informal employment today. The paper concludes that employment should be the cornerstone of the development agenda and that economic diversity should be the cornerstone of the future economy. I. Statistical Definitions & Data International Statistical Definitions: In 1993, the International Conference of Labour Statisticians adopted an international statistical definition of the "informal sector" to refer to employment and production that takes place in unincorporated small and/or unregistered enterprises. But soon thereafter, beginning in 1997, the International Labor Office (ILO), the international Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics (called the Delhi Group), and the global network Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) began working together to broaden the concept and definition to incorporate certain types of informal employment that had not been included in the enterprise-based concept and definition of the informal sector. They sought to include the whole of work-related informality, as it is manifested in industrialized, transition and developing economies and the real world dynamics in labor markets today, particularly the employment arrangements of the working poor. The expanded definition focuses on the nature of employment in addition to the characteristics of enterprises and includes all types of informal employment both inside and outside informal enterprises. This expanded definition was endorsed by the International Labor Conference (ILC) in 2002 and the International Conference of Labor Statisticians (ICLS) in 2003: statisticians refer to this expanded notion as "informal employment." Informal employment is, by design, a large and heterogeneous category. For purposes of analysis and policymaking it is useful to, first, sub-divide informal employment into self-employment and wage employment, and then within these broad categories, into more homogeneous sub-categories according to status in employment, as follows: (2) Informal self-employment including: * employers in informal enterprises * own account Workers in informal enterprises * Contributing Family Workers (in informal and formal enterprises) * members of informal producers' cooperatives (where these exist) Informal wage employment: employees hired without social protection contributions by formal or informal enterprises or as paid domestic Workers by households. Certain types of wage work are more likely than others to be informal. These include: * employees of informal enterprises * casual or day labourers * temporary or part-time Workers * paid domestic Workers * contract Workers * unregistered or undeclared Workers * industrial outWorkers (also called home Workers) This expanded definition extends the focus from enterprises that are not legally regulated to include employment relationships that are not legally regulated or socially protected. …
Charita Jashi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES OF GENDER EQUALITY IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR OF GEORGIA
2017Co-Authors: Charita JashiAbstract:Georgia is a low middle income, traditional, agricultural country, which has undergone a series of successful political and economic reforms. New and forthcoming business regulations, due to be introduced because of Georgia’s European Integration-related reform agenda, do not set any legislative limits on women’s engagement in economic activities. However, women can find it difficult to develop their economic potential, find and maintain employment and run or start a business. The problem becomes more pronounced in rural areas. Research and surveys carried out with different rural women’s groups have demonstrated unfavourable conditions for women in local labour markets. Women are also less likely than men to be landowners. Women typically own smaller plots of land compared with men and are more likely to be Contributing Family Workers. Women tend to engage in agricultural production for Family consumption, which negatively affects their earning capacity, whereas men tend to engage in the production of cash crops. Due to the double burden of work, insufficient social infrastructure and a lack of professional education, women’s socio-economic status has currently significantly declined.
Emilia Herman - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Factors Behind Working Poverty in Romania
Procedia. Economics and finance, 2020Co-Authors: Gabriela Bodea, Emilia HermanAbstract:Abstract Empirical research shows that working poverty (or in-work poverty) has become a serious socio-economic problem at European level, and not only. This paper analyses the main factors behind in-work poverty in Romania, between 2007 and 2011, aiming to identify some possible measure that need to be taken so that in-work poverty decreases. The results highlight that working poverty din Romania, ismainly determinedby employment vulnerability and precarity. The existence of an inefficient employment structure, characterised by high employment in agriculture, high share of self-employment (especially own-account Workers and Contributing Family Workers), low labour productivity, low level of the employed population with tertiary education, contributes to an increase in employment vulnerability in Romania, with a negative impact on working poverty. Moreover, low wages generated by an extremely reduced labour productivity; represent an important channel of in-work poverty in Romania. Nevertheless, the results confirm those personal characteristics, job characteristics and the household context determine the extent to which the population is affected by in-work poverty. Therefore, adopting some active policies is required in order to make the transition of employment from poverty to welfare.