INFORMAL ECONOMY BY ACTIVITY SECTOR>> Industry

Di Martino, V.; Filippi, S.; Loiselle, C. Company cases and cross-company initiatives. Working conditions improvement in Haiti. Geneva: ILO, 2003.

This document describes a project that is being implemented in Haiti to improve the working conditions in the garment assembly sector. Allegations of sub-standard working conditions have been dissuading potential foreign investors from doing business in Haiti. The project is structured around the technical assistance and training of ILO's "WISE" (Work Improvements in Small Enterprises) approach, which provides simple, low-cost and practical ideas for improvement of working conditions that can help businesses to improve their productivity at the same time.

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The project was implemented through the Haitian employers' organisation ADIH. The document highlights the lessons learned and the good practices regarding the improvements in working conditions, particularly regarding safety, noise reduction and workers' welfare.

García, A. Mertens, L.; Wilde, R. Procesos de subcontratación y cambios en la calificación de los trabajadores: estudios de caso en México. (Outsourcing processes and changes in workers' qualifications: case studies in Mexico). Santiago, Chile: ECLAC, 1999. 77p. ill. (Productive Development, 54)

This document studies the relationships between large and small enterprises with case studies conducted in four sectors. It particularly analyses the reasons why large enterprises use outsourcing to hire micro and small enterprises and how the latter keep their profit margins, largely due to the reduction in labour costs by employing informal workers.
Four case studies are presented which reflect different modalities that are configured and tend to change with the impacts of the crisis, opening and modernisation of the sectors covered by these enterprises.
This allows to understand the trends in work conditions, job quality, salaries and staff training modalities of different types of enterprises, in addition to the training instruments encouraged by them.

Kosacoff, B. (Coord.) Evaluación de un escenario posible y deseable de reestructuración y fortalecimiento del Complejo Textil argentino.(An assessment on the possible and desirable scenario of a restructured and enhanced Argentinean textile industry). Buenos Aires: ECLAC, 2004.

This document analyses the evolution of the Argentinean textile sector from the nineties to the present. It particularly focuses on the impacts of the convertibility plan of the nineties and the changes in trade policy concerning the organisational evolution of this sector and the performance of the enterprises that belong to it (in terms of their dynamism in productivity, products, employment, investment and exports).
The nineties brought further organisational flexibility for enterprises. But it also brought about a major increase in informal employment and informal productive units, which are the consequences of the adjustments made by this sector in response to the changes in the context.
Finally, possible policies are discussed which intend to improve the sector's competitiveness and bring some formality to informal productive units and workers through training, tax and credit policies.