STATISTICAL INFORMATION >> Documents of interest

ILO

Hussmanns, R. "A labour force survey module on informal employment (including employment in the informal sector) as a tool for enhancing the international comparability of data", Sixth Meeting of the Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics (Delhi Group), 2003.

This document aims to design a standard module of questions on informal
employment, so as to include them in national surveys. The use of a module or standard questions for all countries which enables homogeneous data is valuable for cross-country comparability.

Hussmanns, R. "Defining and measuring the informal sector", Bureau of Statistics, ILO, 2004.

This paper summarises the international statistical definition of the informal sector, as adopted by the Fifteenth International Conference in 1993 and referred to in the revised System of National Accounts (1993).

With a view to complementing statistical measures of employment in the informal sector with broader statistical measures of informal employment, it proposes a definition of informal employment, such as the one developed by the International Labour Conference (ILC) in 2002.

The possibilities and limitations of labour force surveys as a source of data on employment in the informal economy are discussed. To illustrate how the information can be obtained, examples of possible survey questions are put forward.

Hussmanns, R. "Measuring the informal economy: From employment in the informal sector to informal employment". Working Paper No. 53, Bureau of Statistics, ILO, 2004.

It is the objective of this document to develop statistics on the informal economy that may help to improve labour statistics. The need for statistics on the informal economy lies on the importance of processing empirical data for policy-making and implementation.

On one hand, this working paper addresses ILO definitions concerning the informal economy: on the other hand, it illustrates the practical application in household surveys of these definitions, by providing examples of questions on how to size up these developments.

Hussmanns, R. "Statistical definition of informal employment: Guidelines endorsed by the Seventeenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians (2003)", ILO.

This document is an outcome of the 2002 ILC as a way to capture informal economy within statistics. The need to adjust statistics to the new definitions (or categories included within an informal economy) is viewed starting from a revision of statistical methodologies and instruments, so as to incorporate these conceptual changes, making it possible to capture them in national household surveys.

Hussmanns, R.; du Jeu, B. "ILO compendium of official statistics on employment in the informal sector", Working Paper No.1, Bureau of Statistics, ILO, 2002.

The present paper was prepared as a basis for the general discussion on Decent Work and the Informal Economy during the 90th Session of the International Labour Conference. Data obtained on employment in the informal economy are made available in this document. It contains statistical data drawn from national household surveys and methodological information on informal employment for countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Data from the document may be obtained at this address: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/papers/comp.htm

ILO. Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture. (Mujeres y hombres en la economía informal: panorama estadístico) Geneva: ILO, Employment sector. 2002.

Laurie, A. "Report II- Income from employment" - 16th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, 1998.

This text sums up part of the Conference held in Geneva on how to quantify diverse types of income associated with different employment modalities.

The document analyses various measurement patterns of wage employment and self-employment, as well of mixed income (received from work and social security allowances); the data sources where to obtain them; compilation periodicity, etc.
The informal economy definition includes independent workers who receive meagre remunerations for their work. Therefore, the way in which those incomes are quantified upon seeking to measure the scope of the informal economy is an important step.