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Working Paper
The informal sector and the safety of female traders in Tanzania: A reflection of practices, policies, and legislationThis paper assesses the participation of female traders, safety factors, and existing policies and legislation in the informal sector in Tanzania...
Informal sector female entrepreneurship TanzaniaWorking Paper
Improving young women’s working conditions in Tanzania’s urban food vending sectorIn this paper, we investigate the working conditions of the young women working as assistants in the food vending sector in Tanzania using interviews and focus group discussions which are supplemented with quantitative survey...
Tanzania Working conditions Food retailingPresentation
UNU-WIDER at WEAI Annual ConferenceThe 96th Western Economic Association International (WEAI) Annual Conference takes place online across 27 June to 1 July. This year’s programme includes a session chaired by Tim Gindling , Climbing the job ladder? Informal and formal work in a...
Working Paper
Informal employment or informal firms? Regulatory enforcement and the transformation of the informal sectorWhile there is general agreement that regulatory avoidance is an important part of firms’ decisions to produce in the informal sector, there is much less agreement on how regulation and enforcement affect firms’ decisions on, inter alia, ...
Informal sector Regulation SpilloversWorking Paper
Informality and pension reforms in Bolivia: The case of Renta DignidaHow social protection programmes affect work choices is a question that has been at the centre of labour economics research for decades...
Social protection Informal work BoliviaWorking Paper
Heterogeneous informality in Costa Rica and NicaraguaInformal work is often considered a place of employment for marginalized and vulnerable workers who have been rationed out of preferred formal work...
Informality Developing countries Costa RicaWorking Paper
Job quality and labour market transitions: Evidence from Mexican informal and formal workersIn this paper we analyse informal work in Mexico, which accounts for the majority of employment in the country and has grown over time...
Informal work job quality Labour market dynamicsWorking Paper
Informality and work statusThe most important determinant of households’ livelihoods is how much they earn for their labour...
Informal work Work status LivelihoodsWorking Paper
By choice or by force?: Uncovering the nature of informal employment in urban MexicoUsing a special module of the 2015 Mexican Labour Force Survey with information on workers’ preferences for jobs with social security coverage, I estimate that 80 per cent of informal workers in large urban areas would prefer to work in a job t...
Informal work Labour market Labour market segmentationSeminar
Funda Ustek-Spilda on fair work in the gig economy after COVID-19
Working Paper
Ethnic diversity and informal work in GhanaWe present the first study that examines the effects of ethnic diversity on informal work...
Ethnic diversity Informal work InformalityWorking Paper
Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and NicaraguaWe divide workers into six work statuses: formal self-employed, upper-tier informal self-employed, lower-tier informal self-employed, formal wage-employed, upper-tier informal wage-employed, and lower-tier informal wage-employed...
Employment Informal work Worker mobilityBackground Note
COVID-19 and the socioeconomic impact in Africa: The case of GhanaThe first two cases of COVID-19 were reported in Ghana on 12 March 2020 by the health ministry...
COVID-19 Economic impact GhanaBlog
To die from hunger or the virus: An all too real dilemma for the poor in India (and elsewhere)
On March 24, in a speech to the nation, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, announced a 21-day lockdown. With only four hours’ notice, 1.3 billion people were expected to stay at home and not venture out for three weeks...
Informal work Informality COVID-19Journal Article
Using Legal Empowerment for Labour Rights in IndiaPart of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality
Labour Judicial activism Legal empowermentWorking Paper
Using legal empowerment for labour rights in IndiaThis paper brings labour back into the literature on legal empowerment against poverty. Employing a historical lens, I outline three waves of legal movements. Each wave is distinguished by its timing, the state-level target, and the actors involved...
Labour Judicial activism Legal empowerment