Valentina Stoevska (stoevska@ilo.org)
Department of Statistics
International Labour Office- Geneva
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Limitations of the current MDG Indicator 3.2
Growth of the employment in informal sector (IS)/
informal employment (IE)
Statistical definitions of the employment in
informal sector and informal employment
Some findings re employment in informal economy
References
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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non-agricultural wage employment represents only
a small portion of total employment,
contribution of women to the national economy
underestimated and misrepresented
difficult to interpret,
does not reveal that there are different types of
non-agricultural wage employment
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Employment by sector (agriculture, industry ,
services),
Wage employment in agriculture,
Employment by status in employment (employees,
employers, contributing family members, etc.),
Employment in managerial occupations,
Employment in the informal economy,
...
More comprehensive picture of the women
situation in the labour market, and changes
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Growth of the informal economy
Employment creation, income generation and
poverty eradication but workers lack legal and
social protection.
Informalisation of employment is partly
attributable to ‘globalisation’ process: competitive
pressure on enterprises leads to mixed-mode
labour arrangements (non-standards, atypical,
irregular, precarious):
Exists everywhere (incl. industrialised countries),
and in the formal sector
◦ Relevance and meaning varies by country
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Survival strategy: lack of other jobs, obstacles
to employment in the formal sector, need to
supplement family income
Independence,
Flexible work arrangements,
Profitable income-earning opportunity,
Non-compliance
◦ Regulations, tax payments, social security
contributions
 reduced production costs
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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‘Employment in the IS’ and ‘informal employment’ refer
to different aspects of the «informalisation» of
employment
Employment in IS: employment in informal enterprises.
-defined in terms of characteristics of production
units/enterprises (enterprise based)
Informal employment: employment in informal jobs.
- defined in terms of characteristics of persons or their
jobs (job based)
Employment in the informal economy defined as the
sum of jobs in the informal sector and of informal
jobs outside the informal sector.
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Production units
Informal jobs
Formal jobs
Informal sector
enterprises
A
B
Other units of
production
C
D
Employment in the informal sector:
A+B
Informal employment:
A+C
Informal employment outside the informal sector:
C
Employment in the informal economy:
A+B+C
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Private unincorporated enterprises,
Not constituted as separate legal entities,
No complete accounts available,
At least some goods or services produced are
meant for sale or barter,
Enterprise size below low threshold,:
Enterprise not registered under specific forms of
national legislation at national level,
Engaged in non-agricultural activities.
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Total number of informal jobs carried out
 in formal sector enterprises or
 in informal sector enterprises or
 in households
◦ during a given reference period.
Employees are considered to have informal jobs if
not covered by social security system or not
entitled to other employment benefits such as paid
annual or sick leave.
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Employees
 In informal jobs in formal sector enterprises,
 Paid domestic workers employed by households.
Contributing family workers
 Working in formal sector enterprises.
Own-account workers
 Engaged in goods production exclusively for final
use by own household (if employed according to
13th ICLS employment definition).
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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International Labour Organisation,
Department of Statistics
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International Labour Organisation,
Department of Statistics
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Persons in informal employment
as % of non-agricultural employment
Source: ILO, Department of Statistics
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Source: ILO, Department of Statistics
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Source: ILO, Department of Statistics
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Informal employment in non-agricultural activities by sex for selected countries, %
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Informal employment outside informal sector, in non-agricultural activities, by sex for
selected countries, %
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Employment in informal sector, non-agricultural activities, by sex for selected countries, %
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Tanzania: Employment in informal sector as
percentage of total employment
90.0
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Urban, 1990
National, 1991
Total
Male female
Urban, 1995
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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Resolution concerning statistics of employment in the informal
sector (adopted by the Fifteenth International Conference of Labour
Statisticians,1993)
Guidelines concerning a statistical definition of informal
employment (adopted by the Seventeenth International Conference
of Labour Statisticians, 2003)
http://www.ilo.org/global/statistics-and-databases/standards-andguidelines/lang--en/index.htm
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LABORSTA, an International Labour Office database on labour
statistics operated by the ILO Department of Statistics
http://laborsta.ilo.org
International Labour Organisation, Department of Statistics
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