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Working Paper
Using legal empowerment for labour rights in IndiaThis paper brings labour back into the literature on legal empowerment against poverty. Employing a historical lens, I outline three waves of legal movements. Each wave is distinguished by its timing, the state-level target, and the actors involved...
Working Paper
Social protection, the COVID-19 crisis, and the informal economyThis paper considers the implications of COVID-19 relief measures for the building and extension of comprehensive and universal social protection systems. It highlights three key areas emerging from the crisis, which are likely to affect the shape of...
Blog
UNU-WIDER’s new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) advances progress on SDG 8: Decent WorkUNU-WIDER’s 6-week online course on delivering Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8) brings together recent research on the linkages between economic...
Blog
Stuck at the bottom of the job ladder in Africa: The stumbling block to resilient growth and prosperity
When the question of creating good jobs and decent work in Africa arises, policymakers and development partners often focus on formalization. For...
Book Chapter
Incorporating informal workers into social insurance in TanzaniaPublic social insurance is part of the broader social protection “toolbox”, typically understood to comprise also social assistance measures (such as cash transfers, benefits in kind, fuel subsidies and so on), social services and public works (see...
Book Chapter
Social Protection, the COVID-19 Crisis, and the Informal EconomyPart of Book COVID-19 and the Informal Economy
Book Chapter
A New Social Contract Inclusive of Informal WorkersPart of Book COVID-19 and the Informal Economy
Working Paper
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employmentThis paper provides a comparative summary of recent national statistics from five Latin American countries on employment losses and gains during the peak COVID-19 years compared with pre-pandemic levels. As part of its work on the impact of the...
Blog
To die from hunger or the virus: An all too real dilemma for the poor in India (and elsewhere)
On March 24, in a speech to the nation, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, announced a 21-day lockdown. With only four hours’ notice, 1.3 billion...
Working Paper
The impact of COVID-19 on urban informal workers in MaputoInformal self-employed traders in developing countries are vulnerable to shocks as they often lack access to social insurance or formal finance. This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these urban traders in the capital of...
Journal Article
Informality and pension reforms in BoliviaPart of Journal Special Issue What sustains informality
Blog
Confronting low domestic savings in AfricaWhat are the linkages between national savings and sustainable economic growth? Why are there differences in the amounts of savings between different...
Working Paper
Incorporating informal workers into social insurance in TanzaniaExpansion of social protection reach among workers in the large informal economy represents a persisting and thorny challenge in the development context. In Mainland Tanzania, several domestically led policy reforms have been introduced to...
Working Paper
Employment transitions with high unemployment and a small informal sectorThis paper examines employment transitions in the South African labour market. Using the Post-Apartheid Labour Market Series, it analyses flows between the formal sector, informal sector, and unemployment, paying specific attention to how these flows...
Policy Brief
Climbing the job ladderMost workers in developing countries work in the informal labour market Lower-tier informal work leads to a dead end in the countries in this study, with little opportunity to move up the job ladder While those in upper-tier informal work are the...
Working Paper
Trade sanctions and informal employmentThis paper examines how trade sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unexpected and unprecedented trade sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. We use a difference-in-differences...
Working Paper
Informality and pension reforms in BoliviaHow social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades. More recently, a scant literature has focused on the effects of social protection on work choices and informal...
Working Paper
Informal employment or informal firms? Regulatory enforcement and the transformation of the informal sectorWhile there is general agreement that regulatory avoidance is an important part of firms’ decisions to produce in the informal sector, there is much less agreement on how regulation and enforcement affect firms’ decisions on, inter alia, which sector...
Working Paper
Ethnic diversity and informal work in GhanaWe present the first study that examines the effects of ethnic diversity on informal work. Using two waves of data from the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey, we find that ethnic diversity is associated with a higher probability of engaging in...
Working Paper
Female labour supply and informal employment in EcuadorLow- and middle-income countries face a trade-off between raising tax revenue to strengthen social protection and creating incentives for the population to enter formal employment. However, empirical evidence on labour supply elasticities in the...
Book
The Job LadderUsing a range of countries from the Global South, this book examines heterogeneity within informal work by applying a common conceptual framework and empirical methodology. The country studies use panel data to study the dynamics of worker...
Book Chapter
Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and NicaraguaPart of Book The Job Ladder
Journal Article
Ethnic diversity and informal work in GhanaPart of Journal Special Issue What sustains informality
Displaying 32 of 51 results