Publications on informal economy

  1. PRODUCTIVITY

    TRENDS IN PRODUCTIVITY AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES. A comparative analysis of four emerging-market economies.

    17 November 2021

    This study undertaken by the Bureau for Employers' Activities of the ILO (ACT/EMP) is part of a research project to analyse the barriers to productivity growth, diversification and structural change in four selected emerging market economies Vietnam, Colombia, Turkey, and South Africa. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the design of coherent and comprehensive strategies, with a human-centred approach, to foster productivity and structural change, will be of utmost importance to accelerate the economic and employment recovery in the post-pandemic environment to build forward better.

  2. Research brief

    COVID-19 and rising wage inequality: Trends and challenges in Thailand and Viet Nam

    27 January 2021

    This brief presents quantitative trends in wage inequality in Thailand and Viet Nam during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. Based on various measures, it highlights the rise of inequality as wages have been increasingly concentrated among the highest wage earners and the disproportionate impact of lower wages on informal workers, youth and workers with lower educational qualifications. It presents a number of policy measures including enhanced wage support and active labour market policies to counter these dynamics.

  3. ESSA Project

    Extension of social protection to workers in informal employment in the ASEAN region

    31 December 2019

    The report outlines recent trends in informal employment, challenges and opportunities for extending social protection, by different categories of workers and countries. It also documents relevant country experiences and lessons, and proposes recommendations to the regional and national policy debates on the extension of social protection coverage from legal, administrative and financial perspectives.

  4. Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 52

    Segmentation and informality in Vietnam: A survey of the literature Country case study on labour market segmentation

    14 October 2014

  5. 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.

  6. Book

    Informal economy in Viet Nam

    01 December 2011

    This book provides a global picture of informal economy in Vietnam and explores the determinants of transitions between formality and informality

  7. Publication

    Participatory approaches to improving safety, health and working conditions in informal economy workplaces. Experiences of Cambodia, Thailand and Viet Nam

    01 October 2007

    Participatory training programmes are increasingly applied in Asia for supporting grassroots initiatives in informal economy workplaces to improve safety, health and working conditions. These participatory programmes are easy to apply and action-oriented, and focus on immediate improvement needs of informal economy workplaces. Workers in informal economy workplaces have identified and implemented practical safety and health improvements with the support from the participatory training programmes.