All publications: informal employment + informal enterprises + informal economy

Brief

Informality in Nepal’s Construction Sector: Promoting enterprise formalization and extending social protection to construction workers

This brief brings together findings from the sectoral diagnostic of informality in Nepal’s construction sector and insights from relevant stakeholders gathered through a policy dialogue. It highlights the need to advance enterprise formalization and...

Can digital services help tackle the extension service dilemma?

Evidence and lessons on improving farmer practices at scale from the ILO’s An Ka Baara project in Mali.

E-Waste for Youth Employment in Limpopo

The E-Waste for Youth Employment in Limpopo Province Project, implemented by the ILO with funding from the Government of Japan, promoted decent employment and entrepreneurship for young people, particularly women, through sustainable e-waste...

Policy brief

Enterprises, supply chains and the transition to formality: linkages and innovation

This policy brief explores how multinational enterprises (MNEs) and supply chain linkages can help advance the transition from the informal to the formal economy. Drawing on innovative approaches and good practices across sectors and countries, it...

Case study

Systems thinking meets human thinking

Removing constraints and rewiring incentives and behaviours for better State-led social protection delivery in Jordan.

Registration of individual businesses in Viet Nam: Drivers, challenges and lessons from international experience

This report examines the legal, institutional and policy environment governing individual businesses in Viet Nam and identifies opportunities to promote their formalization.

ILO Brief

Promoting formalization outcomes in Employment-Intensive Investment Programme

Labour Market

Labour Market Trends in Latin America and the Caribbean

The report provides an up-to-date overview of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean, presenting 2025 results and initial trends for 2026, and analyses the relationship between productivity and informality.

Review of key policies supporting private sector development in Viet Nam

This report reviews the policy and regulatory framework supporting private sector development in Viet Nam, with a focus on SMEs.

International experiences in the development of Viet Nam’s private sector

This report examines international experiences in private sector and SME development from the Republic of Korea, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, India and Estonia.

Report

Inequalities in the world of work

This publication provides a multidimensional assessment of earnings inequality in the world of work using harmonized ILO microdata. It examines vertical inequality through relative and absolute measures, horizontal disparities across demographic and...

Report

From experience to opportunity: Unlocking skills through RPL

This report presents the outcomes of the Regional Training and Experience-Sharing Workshop on RPL, held in Nairobi, Kenya, under the framework of the PROSPECTS partnership and the ILO’s Global Skills Programme.

Market systems development for decent work

Big talk, any walk?

What results from 100+ projects can tell us about market systems development effectiveness.

Formalization and Decent Work

The national roadmap for SME and worker formalization

With a large share of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and workers operating outside formal systems, this roadmap outlines practical and coordinated actions to support the transition from the informal to the formal economy in Pakistan.

ILO Working Paper 169

Unpacking informality: A multidimensional policy decomposition

This working paper presents a practical additive decomposition of informal employment, showing where policy action can reduce it. Applied to the case of Colombia, it identifies the main factors behind recent declines in informality.

ILO-UNV Joint publication

Informal volunteering: Trends and characteristics

The report focuses on informal volunteering, the most widespread but least well understood form of volunteer work. It aims to address major evidence gaps by analysing who engages in informal volunteering, how, and under what conditions across...

ILO PROSPECTS Publication

Unlocking markets for climate resilience – Mapping private sector delivery of climate-smart solutions

This report maps private sector climate-smart solutions in Uganda to identify scalable, market-based approaches that strengthen resilience and livelihoods in refugee and host communities.

Policy brief

Work, Institutions and Democracy: Five Interconnected Structural Trends Reshaping the World of Work in Latin America and the Caribbean

Five interconnected structural trends—demographic, technological, environmental, productive and institutional—are reshaping the world of work in Latin America and the Caribbean. This policy brief analyses their implications and advances a central...

Working Paper 160

Foreign direct investment, global value chains and labour markets

This publication examines the global employment impact of foreign direct investment and multinational enterprises, estimating that foreign affiliates supported around 125 million jobs worldwide by 2021. By combining firm-level data with ILO labour...

Working paper 159

Recent trends in informal employment in Georgia

Drawing on data from the Georgian Labour Force Survey (2021–2022), this paper provides a detailed statistical profile of informal employment in Georgia and discusses its key drivers.