Publications on informal economy

  1. Publication

    Challenges related to informality and formalization in Turkana County, Kenya

    08 December 2022

    The ILO conducted a study to identify barriers related to informality and formalization of enterprises and jobs in the informal economy in Turkana County.

  2. ILO Working paper 85

    Ride-hailing versus traditional taxi services: The experiences of taxi drivers in Lebanon

    05 December 2022

    This paper provides insights into the working conditions of platform-based taxi drivers, and engages critically with the development of taxi platforms in Lebanon and shows its dependence on venture capital funds, the “non‑uberized” economy, the State and the non-market society in Lebanon, which is experiencing a structural transformation of its economy and labour market.

  3. ILO Working paper 84

    Engendering informality statistics: gaps and opportunities

    21 November 2022

    Informality is a dynamic and multidimensional concern that demands gender-sensitive data. In 2018, globally, more than 60% of employment was informal. However, global averages hide that in more countries the share of women in informal employment exceeds that of men. Also, women in the informal economy are often in the most unprotected situations – as domestic workers, home-based workers and contributing family workers – where a lack of visibility can increase their vulnerability.

  4. Publication

    Assessment of social security coverage of workers in diverse forms of employment and in platform employment in China

    12 October 2022

  5. ILO Working paper 80

    Realizing the opportunities of the platform economy through freedom of association and collective bargaining

    30 September 2022

    This study provides empirical evidence from different regions of the world to identify avenues for platform economy workers to access freedom of association and collective bargaining.

  6. Joint report - Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, ILO and IDOS

    A majority working in the shadows: A six-country opinion survey on informal labour in sub-Saharan Africa

    15 September 2022

    Most workers in sub-Saharan Africa are informally employed, which often leaves them without access to health care and social protection.

  7. Publication

    Future of Work, Emerging Sectors and the Potential for Transition to Formality

    12 September 2022

  8. Labour Overview Series 2022

    Weak growth and the global crisis are holding back the recovery of the employment in Latin America and the Caribbean

    01 September 2022

    In a context of partial recovery of labour indicators, the Russian aggression against Ukraine has made the outlook for labour markets in the region more complex. Slowdown in economic growth makes full employment recovery more difficult and increases the risk of informalisation, while accelerating inflation negatively impacts real labour and household incomes. This adds to the enduring distributional effects of the pandemic in a region characterised by very high levels of inequality.

  9. Publication

    The evaluation of policies promoting the transition to formality

    31 August 2022

  10. ILO Working paper 75

    Using Online Vacancy and Job Applicants’ Data to Study Skills Dynamics

    18 August 2022

    This paper finds that big data on vacancies and applications to an online job board can be a promising data source for studying skills dynamics, especially in countries where alternative sources are scarce. To show this, we develop a skills taxonomy, assess the characteristics of such online data, and employ natural language processing and machine-learning techniques. The empirical implementation uses data from the Uruguayan job board BuscoJobs, but can be replicated with similar data from other countries.