A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy, by Colin C. Williams
- Authors: Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473700 , vital:77674 , https://ilr-rit.org/article/id/19385/
- Description: Colin C. Williams’ new book, A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy, offers a timely analysis of a segment of the global workforce that has received increasing atten tion in recent years. A range of different measures suggest that, globally, the vast majority (61 per cent) of all employment is informal.1 Once thought to be exclusive to labour markets in middle- and low-income countries, the rise of platform work and the gig economy in the economies of developed countries has spurred new inter est in the subject. Similarly, the uneven effects of the pandemic and its aftermath have drawn unprecedented attention to the resultant economic and social crisis, which has disproportionately affected workers in the informal economy.2 Using the most internationally comparable definition of the informal economy as comprising all workers without legal or social protection through their employment,3 the recent pandemic and continuing economic crisis has left the bulk of the global workforce without a safety net. Such a “moment” naturally raises questions about the structure of employment, the role and reach of social protection programmes and the policy options available in countries where informal employment is the norm.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
COVID-19 and Informal Work: Degrees and Pathways of Impact in 11 Cities around the World
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Ismail, Ghida , Reed, Sarah O , Rogan, Michael , Valdivia, Marcela
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473883 , vital:77690 , 10.1093/oso/9780198887041.001.0001
- Description: In May 2018, the International Labour Organization (ILO) published the first ever global estimates of informal employment. These global estimates show that 61 per cent of all workers worldwide are informally employed—a total of two billion workers (Bonnet et al. 2019: 4; ILO 2018: 13). They also show that the rate of informal employment is highest in developing countries (at 90 per cent), lowest in developed countries (at 18 per cent), and quite significant in emerging countries (at 67 per cent) (Bonnet et al. 2019: 4; ILO 2018: 14).
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
COVID-19 and the Informal Economy: Impact, Recovery, and the Future
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Rogan, Michael , Sen, Kunal
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473905 , vital:77692 , ISBN 9780198887041 , 10.1093/oso/9780198887041.001.0001
- Description: A key challenge for the post-COVID-19 global economy is whether the disproportionate impact of the crisis on informal workers, who form the majority of the world’s workforce, will be acknowledged. Or whether harmful and negative stereotypes will persist. Today, despite the role of these essential frontline workers — producing, processing, selling, cooking and delivering food, providing cleaning, childcare, eldercare, healthcare, transport, waste removal, and other essential services — many observers consider the informal economy to be non-compliant (resisting registration and taxation) and associate it with low productivity (a drag on the economy) or with crime (illegal activities) and grime (blight on modern cities). Yet, most informal workers are working poor trying to earn an honest living in often hostile environments. Most suffered severe declines in work and earnings during successive waves of the COVID pandemic, and related restrictions and recessions, and have gone deeper into debt and depleted their savings and assets in order to survive. This book explores and informs answers to that key challenge. It presents findings on the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers in Asia, Africa and North and Latin America. The chapters of the volume analyse the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers, interrogate whether and which economic recovery plans and schemes include informal workers and explore what a more inclusive economic recovery and reforms might look like.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Gendered labour market outcomes among South African technical and vocational education and training (TVET) completers
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Rogan, Michael , Needham, Seamus
- Date: 2024
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/470853 , vital:77401 , https://doi.org/10.14426/jovacet.v7i2.417
- Description: South Africa's post-school education and training (PSET) system plays an important role in addressing historical inequalities and preparing youth for the labour market. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges have seen rising female enrolment, including in traditionally male-dominated fields like Engineering. This study examines whether women's increased participation in TVET programmes translates into equal labour market opportunities. Using administrative enrolment data and a tracer study of TVET completers, findings show that female completers face significantly higher unemployment rates than men, unrelated to the over-representation in Business Studies or services programmes. Additionally, women earn 22% less than men, even after accounting for study choices and qualification levels. While challenges remain in ensuring gender parity, the increasing presence of women in male-dominated fields signals progress. Efforts must focus on translating these gains into equitable employment outcomes.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2024
Decomposing the impact of human capital on household income inequality in South Africa: Is education a useful measure?
- Authors: Friderichs, Tamaryn J , Keeton, Gavin R , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2023
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/470842 , vital:77400 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2022.2163228
- Description: Human capital (HC) has increasingly been identified as a driver of economic development, with the potential to reduce income inequality, which, in South Africa, originates in the labour market. HC is, however, a complex concept to measure. This study uses Fields’ regression-based decomposition method to analyse the relationships between income inequality and HC in South Africa. The Fields method allows for the analysis of the impact of several factors contributing to HC on the distribution of a measure of income. Data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) wave 1 (2008) and 5 (2017) are used. The findings suggest that increasing educational attainment, through improved school quality for all, would likely play a key role in reducing income inequality in South Africa. Furthermore, the large role of education attainment in explaining household income inequality supports the use of education attainment as a proxy for HC in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2023
COVID-19 and informal work in 11 cities: recovery pathways amidst continued crisis
- Authors: Alfers, Laura C , Braham, Christy , Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Harvey, Jenna , Ismail, Ghida , Ogando, Ana C , Reed, Sarah O , Roever, Sally , Rogan, Michael , Sinha, Shalini , Skinner, Caroline , Valdivia, Marcela
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473850 , vital:77687 , https://www.wiego.org/publications/covid-19-and-informal-work-11-cities-recovery-pathways-amidst-continued-crisis
- Description: The majority of the global workforce–61%–is informal and has been disproportionately impacted by measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and by the accompanying economic down-turn. The focus on aggregate job and livelihood losses masks the multiple drivers behind these losses that are leaving labour mar-kets in general, but particularly in developing countries, without a viable path to recovery. The global informal workforce is diverse, and understanding experiences of workers in different contexts and sectors is required to design effective recovery policies. This Working Paper reflects the findings from the longitudinal study of nearly 2,000 informal workers in 11 cities around the world. Sur-veys and in-depth interviews were conducted with domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and market traders, and waste pickers in mid-2020 and then again in mid-2021. The findings reveal the differentiated pathways of impact and thus re-covery for different groups of informal workers approximately a year and a half into the pandemic. The study shows that the eco-nomic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis remains deep and persistent for workers at the base of the economy. Key findings include: Earnings for informal workers interviewed are still far below their pre-pandemic levels. Most respondents have not fully recovered their ability to work. By mid-2021, the typical worker was only earning 64% of her/his pre-COVID-19 earnings. In addition, the average number of days worked per week was only four in mid-2021, still considerably lower than the 5.5-day average in the pre-pandemic period.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
COVID-19 and informal work: Evidence from 11 cities
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Ismail, Ghida , Rogan, Michael , Valdivia, Marcela , Alfers, Laura C , Harvey, Jenna , Ogando, Ana C , Reed, Sarah O , Roever, Sally
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473839 , vital:77686 , https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12221
- Description: This article presents the findings for 11 cities across five geographical regions from a study led by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, investigating the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on different groups of informal workers and their households. Detailing impacts on work and income, food and hunger, care and other household responsibilities, and on the coping strategies of informal worker households, the article also compares the roles of government and informal worker organizations in providing relief and other support. Based on worker demands, the authors present guiding principles for a better deal for informal workers going forward.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
COVID-19 et travail informel: les enseignements d'une étude sur la situation dans onze grandes villes
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Ismail, Ghida , Rogan, Michael , Valdivia, Marcela , Alfers, Laura C , Harvey, Jenna , Ogando, Ana C , Reed, Sarah O , Roever, Sally
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: French
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473861 , vital:77688 , https://doi.org/10.1111/ilrf.12230
- Description: Les auteurs présentent les conclusions d'une étude dirigée par le réseau Femmes dans l'emploi informel: globalisation et organisation (WIEGO) sur les effets de la crise du COVID‐19 sur les travailleurs informels. L'analyse porte sur quatre professions et onze grandes villes de cinq régions. Il y est question du travail et des revenus, de l'accès à l'alimentation et de la faim, des responsabilités familiales et domestiques, ainsi que des stratégies d'adaptation des ménages. Les auteurs évoquent également les mesures de soutien proposées par les gouvernements et les organisations de travailleurs informels. Enfin, ils énoncent une série de principes devant guider l'action en faveur de ce groupe.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
COVID-19 y trabajo informal: evidencia de once ciudades
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Ismail, Ghida , Rogan, Michael , Valdivia, Marcela , Alfers, Laura C , Harvey, Jenna , Ogando, Ana C , Reed, Sarah O , Roever, Sally
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: French
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473872 , vital:77689 , https://doi.org/10.1111/ilrs.12231
- Description: Se presentan las conclusiones de un estudio dirigido por la red Mujeres en Empleo Informal: Globalizando y Organizando (WIEGO), en el que se investigan las repercusiones de la crisis de la COVID‐19 en diferentes grupos de personas trabajadoras informales y en sus hogares en términos de empleo, ingresos, alimentación y hambre, cuidado y otras responsabilidades domésticas, así como las estrategias de afrontamiento de estas personas. Se comparan los roles de los gobiernos y de las organizaciones de personas trabajadoras informales en la prestación de diversas ayudas. Basándose en las reivindicaciones de estas personas, se plantean principios rectores para mejorar su situación en el futuro.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
Effets de la pandémie de COVID-19 et du travail de soins non rémunéré sur les moyens d'existence des travailleurs informels
- Authors: Ogando, Ana C , Rogan, Michael , Moussié, Rachel
- Date: 2022
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: French
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473894 , vital:77691 , https://doi.org/10.1111/ilrf.12239
- Description: Avec la pandémie de COVID‐19, la crise sanitaire et économique s'est doublée d'une crise du travail de soins. Tous les travailleurs en ont pâti, y compris dans l'économie informelle. Les auteurs exploitent les résultats d'une étude longitudinale menée par le réseau WIEGO en juin‐juillet 2020 auprès de travailleurs informels de douze villes. Ils observent que la crise a accru la charge du travail de soins, avec des conséquences sur les moyens d'existence et la sécurité alimentaire. L'analyse sexospécifique de l'activité professionnelle et du travail de soins non rémunéré permet de comprendre les répercussions particulières de la crise sur les travailleurs informels dans le monde.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2022
COVID-19 and informal work: Distinct pathways of impact and recovery in 11 cities around the world
- Authors: Chen, Martha A , Grapsa, Erofili , Ismail, Ghida , Rogan, Michael , Valdivia, Marcela , Alfers, Laura C , Harvey, Jenna , Ogando, Ana C , Reed, Sarah O , Roever, Sally
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473828 , vital:77685 , https://www.wiego.org/publications/covid-19-and-informal-work-distinct-pathways-impact-and-recovery-11-cities-around
- Description: This paper presents findings from a study on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on informal workers in 11 cities across 5 regions of the world (Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America and East-ern Europe). A unique feature of the study is that it examines the degree–and pathways–of impact on different sectors of informal workers and, within sectors, by key variables (status in employ-ment, place of work, goods/services provided, and gender). Also, the study provides insights from informal workers in their own words. The paper concludes with common demands for recovery by local organizations of informal workers and a call for a Better New Deal for informal workers. The study methods included a survey questionnaire for informal workers and in-depth interviews with informal worker leaders and organizers as well as repre-sentatives of government, civil society and academia. The survey was conducted by mobile phone and collected information on the ability to work, working hours, earnings and sector-specific con-straints to livelihoods at three points in time: mid-2020 (June–July) when the survey was carried out and two recall periods–April 2020 (period of peak lockdowns or restrictions in all study cities) and February 2020 (pre-COVID-19 reference period). The survey also collected information on health and safety, food security and hunger, care and other household responsibilities, relief measures and household coping strategies.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2021
(Re) conceptualising poverty and informal employment
- Authors: Rogan, Michael , Cichello, Paul
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473673 , vital:77671 , ISBN 9780429200724 , https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9780429200724-15/re-conceptualising-poverty-informal-employment-michael-rogan-paul-cichello
- Description: There are roughly 839 million working poor in developing countries who survive on less than $2/day and about 80 per cent are employed in the informal economy. The conventional poverty approach therefore tends to frame the informal economy as a problem to be solved rather than as an important source of household income or a critical base of the modern economy. This chapter aims to reframe the link between informal employment and income poverty by examining the role of informal employment in reducing poverty. To explore the potential for measuring the link between informal employment and poverty reduction, the chapter presents the results of a poverty decomposition analysis using household survey data from South Africa. The findings suggest that a focus on low earnings in the informal economy belies the important contribution of this income to keeping workers and their households above the poverty line. The chapter concludes by considering whether or how policies might look different when they recognise and support the role of earnings from informal employment in the households of the working poor.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Employment-based social protection: ‘Productivism’, universalism and social citizenship
- Authors: Rogan, Michael , Alfers, Laura C
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , book chapter
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473916 , vital:77693 , ISBN 9781785368424 , https://doi.org/10.4337/9781785368431.00021
- Description: The origins of social policy1 in the industrialised countries of the Global North are linked strongly with the labour market both in terms of provision and in their assumption of near full employment (Heintz and Lund 2012). Particularly during the ‘golden era of capitalism’(from roughly the 1950s to the early 1970s), welfare states were established within a context of near full and decent employment. Not only is employment now becoming less secure and more flexible in many of these countries, but social policy has generally been slow to adapt to the changing structure of employment (Heintz and Lund 2012). Within the development literature, the criticism is often that models of employmentbased social protection have been inherited from a context which differs considerably from that of most developing-country labour markets. However, critiques from the developing-country literature have also tended to be nuanced since resources are often highly constrained, tax bases are low, and the ability to collect taxes from powerful global firms is weak.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Exploring spatial differences in the risk of child stunting: Evidence from a South African national panel survey
- Authors: Otterbach, Steffen , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/473927 , vital:77694 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.11.006
- Description: South Africa is one of only a handful of countries in which the prevalence of child stunting actually increased during the period (2000–2015) in which global progress towards child health was being monitored. One section of the literature suggests that stunting is a largely rural phenomenon in South Africa which is explained by high rates of poverty, poor living conditions and a low quality and monotonous diet. Another section, however, suggests that highly processed foods available in expanding retail chains have been contributing to a low quality diet across the country, but particularly in poor urban households. To examine these claims about spatial differences in stunting, we use nationally representative longitudinal data (2008–2014) to measure stunting among South African children and adolescents aged 0–19, with particular attention to the determinants of stunting and how its prevalence differs between urban and rural areas. The results suggest that, first, stunting has a strong spatial component in South Africa but that this can be explained, in large part, by observable factors such as household income, living conditions, and access to basic services. Second, subsistence farming has a significant protective role with respect to stunting, even after controlling for household resources and living conditions. Overall, the results suggest that more attention should be paid to low-quality food and ‘food systems’ as drivers of stunting in both rural and urban areas of a middle-income country such as South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Gendered inequalities in the South African informal economy
- Authors: Rogan, Michael , Alfers, Laura C
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474167 , vital:77697 , https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2019.1676163
- Description: In the early part of the post-apartheid period in South Africa, a ‘feminisation of the labour force’ coincided with an increasing concentration of women in unemployment as well as in informal and low-paid work. In other words, and as observed at the time, an improvement in female labour participation did not seem to ‘buy’ much for South African women. Accordingly, the overrepresentation of women in informal employment has been identified as a key source of gender inequality in the labour market. However, a source of gender disadvantage that has received considerably less attention is the gendered structure of earnings and occupations within the informal economy. In this paper, we examine sources of gender inequality within the South African informal economy through an analysis of a recent labour force survey and by drawing on a multi-dimensional approach to understanding risks to income security.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2019
Food poverty, hunger and household production in rural Eastern Cape households
- Authors: Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474145 , vital:77695 , https://doi.org/10.1080/0376835X.2017.1358602
- Description: More than two decades since the advent of democracy in South Africa, the place of small-scale agriculture in rural development, poverty alleviation and food security remains ambiguous and highly contested. However, there is now some new evidence that official income poverty estimates in South Africa may be underestimating the contribution of rural, land-based livelihoods when measuring household well-being. This paper aims to explore this possibility further by identifying how household production activities are associated with improved food security among rural Eastern Cape households in the former homelands. The analysis is based on data from Statistics South Africa’s 2008/9 Living Conditions Survey and its annual General Household Surveys. In adopting a food poverty lens, the findings suggest that hunger levels are lower among farming households in the Eastern Cape even though a higher percentage of these households (relative to non-farming households) live below the national food poverty line. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for policy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Gender and informal livelihoods: Coping strategies and perceptions of waste pickers in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America
- Authors: Ogando, Ana C , Roever, Sally , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/474156 , vital:77696 , https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-06-2016-0077
- Description: This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of women and men who work as informal waste collectors in four different cities. The purpose of this paper is to map out how and to what extent occupational, political-legal, economic and social dynamics are experienced differently by gender in a highly vulnerable segment of the urban informal economy, and explore gender differences in these workers’ coping strategies and the levels of action they develop to protect their livelihoods.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Inequality, social comparisons and minimum income aspirations: Evidence from South Africa
- Authors: Posel, Dorrit , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Economic development -- South Africa South Africa -- Economic conditions South Africa -- Social policy Economic development -- Political aspects -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59510 , vital:27621 , ISBN 9780868106359 , DOI 10.21504/10962/59509
- Description: We investigate the formation of minimum income aspirations in South Africa, a country with high rates of poverty together with very high and rising rates of inequality. A number of empirical studies in both developed and developing countries have shown that income aspirations increase with the individual’s own income and with the income of others in their community, relationships which are explained by processes of adaptation through habituation and social comparison. However, the relationship between income aspirations and inequality has received far less empirical attention. We analyse the minimum income question (MIQ) asked in nationally representative household survey from 2008/2009 to test for evidence of aspirations failure among the poor in South Africa, and to investigate whether high levels of local inequality dampen or stimulate minimum income aspirations, and particularly among those living in poverty.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Spatial differences in stunting and household agricultural production in South Africa:(re)-examining the links using national panel survey data
- Authors: Otterbach, Steffen , Rogan, Michael
- Date: 2017
- Subjects: Human growth -- South Africa Malnutrition -- South Africa Poverty -- Case studies Economic development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/59522 , vital:27622 , ISBN 9780868106342 , DOI 10.21504/10962/59522
- Description: One explanation for the increasing prevalence of stunting in South Africa over the past 15 years while other development indicators have improved is that Big Food retail chains have been contributing to a low quality diet across the country, particularly in poor urban households. We thus use nationally representative longitudinal data (2008–2014) to trace 6 years of stunting’s evolution among South African children, adolescents, and young adults aged 0–19, with particular attention to how the prevalence of under-nutrition differs between urban and rural areas and how the drivers of poor nutrition vary spatially. The results of our random-effects logistic regressions on the nutritional impact of household agricultural production suggest that, conditional on household income, subsistence farming is associated with a lower probability of stunting. Even more important, although under-nutrition retains a strong spatial component, once observable differences in living standards are controlled for, the higher tendency for children in deep rural households to suffer from (severe) stunting reverses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2017
Schooling inequality, higher education and the labour market: evidence from a graduate tracer study in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Rogan, Michael , Reynolds, John
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: Educational equalization -- South Africa Education, Higher -- South Africa College graduates -- Employment -- South Africa College majors -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Book , Text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/3104 , vital:20369 , ISBN 9780868106045
- Description: This study attempts to link schooling, demographic, socio-economic and academic factors to firstchoice degree completion and labour market outcomes. More specifically, this study investigates those factors that are most directly associated with whether the degrees that university graduates obtain reflect their first qualification choices, and also examines the effects of those factors and degree types on labour market outcomes. The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The next section reviews the literature on the transition from schooling to higher education in South Africa with a particular focus on programme choice, followed by the recent literature on graduate employment and unemployment, and the broad findings of the graduate tracer studies which have been conducted in South Africa to date. Section three describes the graduate tracer study design and the analysis upon which the empirical section of the paper is based. In section four, the results of the descriptive statistics and a multivariate analysis are presented in two parts. Finally, section five discusses the results and reflects on the implications for higher education in South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015