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Annual Report 2022 Cover

UNU-WIDER 2022 Annual Report is released

2022 was a key year in the UNU-WIDER 2019–2023 work programme, with great achievements made possible through our partnerships and collaborations Read more in the 2022 Annual Report.
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The Job Ladder: Transforming informal work and livelihoods in developing countries

NEW BOOK - Available now on Open Access. Providing a nuanced view of informality across a range of developing economies using a common conceptual framework.
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UNU-WIDER's LDC5 Conference Exhibition

Visit the virtual booth featuring materials shared at the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Doha, Qatar. Check out photos, videos, and infographics on our research results from LDCs.
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Capacity development in action: UNU-WIDER Winter School

In collaboration with Stellenbosch University, we organised an intensive winter school course on tax policy research, delivering training to 27 African researchers from 13 countries. Read more
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41 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...

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  • Blog
  • Event
  • Publication
  • (-) Informal work
Journal Article
Using Legal Empowerment for Labour Rights in India

Part of Journal Special Issue Legal Empowerment and Group-Based Inequality

  • Labour
  • Judicial
  • Legal empowerment
Working Paper
Job quality and labour market transitions

In this paper we analyse informal work in Mexico, which accounts for the majority of employment in the country and has grown over time. We document that the informal sector is composed of two distinct parts: salaried informal employment and self...

  • Informal work
  • job quality
  • Labour market dynamics
Journal Special Issue
What sustains informality

The special issue contributes significantly to critical issues related to the nature of informal employment and its determinants, how informal firms can grow their business and productivity, and the effects of labour market regulations and social...

  • Informal work
  • Informality
  • Labour market
Working Paper
The impact of COVID-19 on urban informal workers in Maputo

Informal self-employed traders in developing countries are vulnerable to shocks as they often lack access to social insurance or formal finance. This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these urban traders in the capital of...

  • COVID-19
  • Informal
  • Urban
Working Paper
Trade sanctions and informal employment

This paper examines how trade sanctions affect the allocation of workers across formal and informal employment. We analyse the case of the unexpected and unprecedented trade sanctions imposed on Iran in 2012. We use a difference-in-differences...

  • International trade
  • Informal work
  • Labour market
Blog
To die from hunger or the virus: An all too real dilemma for the poor in India (and elsewhere)
Placeholder
by Marty Chen April 2020

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...

  • Informal work
  • Informality
  • COVID-19
Working Paper
Female labour supply and informal employment in Ecuador

Low- and middle-income countries face a trade-off between raising tax revenue to strengthen social protection and creating incentives for the population to enter formal employment. However, empirical evidence on labour supply elasticities in the...

  • Labour supply
  • Informal work
  • Tax-benefit policy
Working Paper
A new social contract inclusive of informal workers

This paper makes the case that current social contracts are often inadequate, irrelevant, or unjust for informal workers. It outlines three possible future scenarios: the bad old contract, an even worse contract, and a better new contract. Under the...

  • Informal work
  • Informal economy
  • Social contract
Working Paper
Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

We 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. In both Costa Rica...

  • Employment
  • Informal work
  • Worker mobility
Blog
What does ‘promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth’ mean for everyday life?
by Ruby Richardson, Kunal Sen, Michael Danquah March 2022

Erica stands under a rudimentary market stall in Accra, Ghana, selling fruits — she has done this every day for 10 years now. Like many women in the...

  • Informal work
  • Economic Transformation Database
Book Chapter
The job ladder

Part of Book The Job Ladder

  • Informal work
  • Work status
  • Panel data
Book Chapter
Informality and work status

Part of Book The Job Ladder

  • Informal work
  • Work status
  • Livelihoods
Book Chapter
Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Part of Book The Job Ladder

  • Employment
  • Informal work
  • Worker mobility
Book Chapter
Informal work in urban Mexico

Part of Book The Job Ladder

  • Informal work
  • Labour market
  • Labour market segmentation
Book Chapter
How to transform informal work and livelihoods?

Part of Book The Job Ladder

  • Informal work
  • Work status
  • formal sector
Journal Article
Ethnic diversity and informal work in Ghana

Part of Journal Special Issue What sustains informality

  • Ethnic diversity
  • Informal work
  • Informality
Displaying 16 of 41 results
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