Publications on informal economy

  1. Cooperatives and the World of Work Series No. 12

    Waste pickers’ cooperatives and social and solidarity economy organizations

    20 August 2019

    Waste pickers make significant contributions to public health, sanitation, and the environment by promoting resource circulation and reducing the amount of landfill. However, they are often not legally recognized as workers and suffer from poor working conditions and lack of social protection. This brief highlights the role of waste pickers' cooperatives and other social and solidarity economy organizations (SSEOs) in integrating and formalizing the work of waste pickers in the recycling value chain and improving their working conditions.

  2. Publication

    Cooperatives meeting informal economy workers' child care needs - A Joint ILO and WIEGO Initiative

    25 April 2018

    Cooperatives set up and run by workers in the informal economy are among the solutions in meeting women workers’ care needs, while also helping protect their labour rights. This report complements the ILO's previous studies with cases from Brazil, India, and Guatemala on how informal economy workers’ organizations can mobilize through cooperatives to provide child care services to their members. The case studies highlight diverse forms of child care provision and outline the varied partnerships needed to implement and sustain child care services for informal economy workers.

  3. Publication

    Informal employment among youth in Brazil: Reflections by Representatives of the Subcommittee on the National Decent Work Agenda for Youth

    22 December 2015

  4. Publication

    Informal employment among youth in Brazil: Executive summary

    22 December 2015

  5. Publication

    Informal employment among youth in Brazil

    22 December 2015

  6. Publication

    COOP NEWS UPDATE

    06 October 2014

    This issue of the COOP News includes articles on various events, projects, trainings and meetings related to the work of the ILO's COOP Unit between April and August, 2014.

  7. ILO Research paper No. 9

    Labour formalization and declining inequality in Argentina and Brazil in 2000s: A dynamic approach

    03 February 2014

    This paper analyses the processes of labour formalization in Brazil and Argentina and its interrelation with the evolution of income inequality over the 2000s. It also contributes to the debates on formalising the informal and how to reduce income inequality.

  8. Publication

    The health of workers in selected sectors of the urban economy: Challenges and perspectives

    01 January 2013

    This paper aimed at analysing and systematizing the health challenges faced by the poorest strata of urban workers and to discuss solutions.

  9. Publication

    Desk review of research on HIV/AIDS in the world of work

    31 July 2012

    This desk review was conducted by ILO/AIDS as part of the Inter-Agency Task Team on HIV workplace policies/programmes and private sector engagement (IATT/WPPS). It is based primarily on the research documents shared by the IATT members, covering vulnerability studies, stigma and discrimination studies, impact and cost-benefit studies.

  10. Publication

    Skills, productivity and employment growth. The case of Latin America

    24 June 2008

    The aim of this study is to illustrate the relations between training and workers' skills, productivity and the growth of quality employment in societies in Latin America by means of an analysis of the existing information and case studies of four different countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru). A review of the activities of ...