All news: informal employment + informal enterprises + informal economy

SEDWAY: Chesvingo Safe Market

From a life of struggle to stability: Dzatutwa’s story

Introduced to vending by his mother since he was in grade six, aged eleven, Dzatutwa Mudonhi, now 48, has been navigating the challenging world of street vending. This has been all the life he knows, having learned from his mother, a seasoned vendor...

Voices from ILO PROSPECTS

From volunteer to firefighter: Sara's journey of saving lives with Recognition of Prior Learning

An inspiring journey of Sara Waithera from Kenya, who has become certified professional firefighter through Recognition of Prior Learning policy introduced by the Government of Kenya with support from the ILO.

Voices from ILO PROSPECTS

From refugee to entrepreneur: ILO’s mentorship transforms Fatima’s small business

Fatima Khalif Abdi, a Somalian refugee in Ethiopia and mother of five, transformed her maize business with support from Business Plan Competition, expanding her offerings and setting ambitious goals for the future.

Voices from ILO PROSPECTS

Transforming informal skills into formal opportunities: Theresa's journey of self-empowerment in Kenya

A self-taught entrepreneur highlights the importance of skill certification in Kenya's informal sector, empowering millions to eradicate poverty.

Labour in fisheries

Towards decent work for fishers in Viet Nam’s blue economy

A recent workshop convened by the ILO and the Viet Nam Institute of Fisheries and Planning identified key challenges and shared recommendations to improve the working conditions of fishers.

PROSPECTS Impact

From self-taught to certified: Kenya's Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) awards over 600 certificates

Kenya’s Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) program formally certifies skills acquired by informal economy workers, providing new career opportunities and empowering workers with recognized qualifications for better job prospects.

ILO in action in the Philippines

Helping workers' organizations protect the vulnerable and promote compliance

A woman trade union leader from the Philippines rose through the ranks. An ILO project with the US Department of Labour equips and empowers her to promote workers’ rights, labour laws, occupational safety and health, and gender equality,...

Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024

Number of youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) a cause for concern, despite falling jobless rate

New ILO report finds high shares of youth NEETs, regional and gender gaps, and growing youth anxiety about work, despite encouraging global youth unemployment trends.

Skills development

ILO supports establishment of Shared Service Facilities Centre (SSFC) to boost economic diversification and community empowerment of tea...

ILO and EUROSTAT host global conference on measuring new forms of employment

The ILO called for better and authoritative data to track the changing world of work at the conference, which discusses the development of reliable statistics to measure and understand new forms of employment, setting a common path for the coming...

Video interview

Why labour statistics matter

Rafael Diez de Medina, Chief Statistician and Director of ILO’s Department of Statistics explains why labour statistics are important, how they are evolving, and how they can help to address key world of work issues such as skills availability and...

National Day of Fisherpeople: challenges and risks in their working activities

In Peru and Ecuador, most workers involved in the fishing sector work in the informal economy (around 84% in Peru and 77% in Ecuador), without access to labor rights and without social protection coverage.

ILO COOP/SSE Meets with WIEGO and Global Informal Economy Worker Membership Based Organization Networks

At the 112th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), staff from the ILO COOP/SSE Unit held a meeting with representatives of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) and global informal economy workers’...

Op-Ed

Formalization key to shared prosperity with workers in Bangladesh’s informal sector

This Op-Ed by Gunjan Dallakoti, ILO SME Specialist in Bangladesh, was published by The Daily Star.

NSPS, ILO and FAO lead initiative to extend social protection to informal and rural workers in Kenya

The workshop on implementing the National Strategy for Social Protection for informal and rural worker gathered key stakeholders to develop a comprehensive roadmap for extending social protection coverage across the country.

Enterprise digitalization

Bangsamoro enterprises to benefit from first Digital Transformation Centre

The ILO, Japan and the Department of Information and Communications Technology launch the Digital Transformation Centre to support enterprises in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Informal economy

Dialogue on informal sector formalization, social protection and decent work

The first tripartite plus meeting on integrated formalization brought together government, workers, employers, informal sector representatives, and key partners to extend social protection and decent work to the informal sector.

Social Protection on informal and rural workers

Strategy launch on the extension of Social Protection on Informal and Rural Workers

Enterprise development

ILO and Chattogram Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry host workshop to understand the challenges and opportunities of women...

Press release

ILO empowers Egypt's business landscape

The Federation of Egyptian Industries and ILO collaborated to accelerate formalization and the role of companies in mitigating informality.