Blog
In memory of Ela Ramesh Bhatt — The gentle revolutionary
by
Martha Chen
November 2022
Ela Ramesh Bhatt, the founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of India, passed away on 2 November 2022. Known as the ‘gentle...
Blog
Digital platforms and job search: Experimental evidence from Mozambique
Digital technologies can be deployed to improve job search, but their effectiveness in practice is disrupted. This column uses experimental data to...
Blog
Can access to finance spur entrepreneurship in Indian informal sector?
by
Ira N. Gang, Rajesh Raj Natarajan,
Kunal Sen
May 2022
Credit constraints, a consequence of the widespread failure of credit markets in developing countries, are widely regarded as a key constraint to...
Blog
The COVID-19 crisis, informal workers, and gender — understanding the intersections
by
Martha Chen
March 2022
The COVID-19 crisis — the pandemic, restrictions, and recession — has not been a grand leveler. While all of us, rich and poor, faced the fear and...
Blog
Ghana's lockdown hit vulnerable workers hard: What needs to happen next time
Coronavirus lockdowns brought the world to a standstill. Rules on hygiene and social distancing have reshaped daily life, schools and businesses had...
Blog
Better measures of informality can improve poverty reduction policy
by
Eva-Maria Egger
May 2021
In a recent study, my co-authors and I propose a new way to measure informality by household, rather than by individual worker. We find that such an...
Blog
Precarization or protection? How labour policies influence the effects of globalization on informality
by
Lourenço S. Paz, Rita K. Almeida, Jennifer P. Poole
May 2021
Globalization has generally coincided with a rise in work outside the formal economy, intensifying job precarization — when high-quality, formal jobs...
Blog
Precarious employment for youth in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia
by
Shireen AlAzzawi, Vladimir Hlasny
May 2021
Youth (those aged 15–29) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face notoriously precarious employment prospects. Youth unemployment is the...
Blog
Ethnic diversity and informal employment in Ghana
Informal activities are widespread in many developing countries. In many sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries informal economic activities account for...
Blog
To die from hunger or the virus: An all too real dilemma for the poor in India (and elsewhere)
by
Martha 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...
Blog
Decent work and COVID-19 – it’s time for a just deal for all workers
Seven months into the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19, we already see significant effects on employment and earnings worldwide. The fallout could see...
Blog
COVID-19 intensifies global need to support informal workers in their struggle: Three guiding principles for a better deal
by
Martha Chen
August 2020
The world is facing an existential crisis that poses challenging questions: whether to put people and nature before owners of capital and technology...
Presentation
UNU-WIDER at WEAI Annual Conference
The 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 dynamic...
Mon, 28 June 2021
Online,
Los Angeles,
United States
Past event
Panel discussion
The good jobs challenge in developing countries – presentation at the 63rd ISLE Conference
The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) hosts its 63rd Annual Conference in Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh 1–3 March 2023. On day two (2 March) of the conference, a panel discussion will explore the key findings of the...
Thu, 2 March 2023
Rajiv Gandhi University,
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh,
India
Past event
Lecture
Kunal Sen delivers Valedictory address at the 63rd annual ISLE conference
The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE) hosts its 63rd Annual Conference in Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh 1–3 March 2023. On day three (3 March) of the conference, UNU-WIDER Director, Kunal Sen delivers the Valedictory...
Fri, 3 March 2023
Rajiv Gandhi University,
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh,
India
Past event