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2.5 Living and working in the urban informal economy: Working Out of Poverty

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: Street vendors in Mexico City; rickshaw pullers in Calcutta; jeepney drivers in Manila; garbage collectors in Bogotá; and roadside barbers in Durban – those who work on the streets or in the open air are the more visible occupational groups in the informal economy. The streets of cities, towns, and villages in most developing countries – and in many developed countries – are lined with barbers, cobblers, garbage collectors, waste recyclers, and vendors of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, snack foods, and a myriad of nonperishable items ranging from locks and keys to soaps and detergents, and clothing. In many countries, head-loaders, cart pullers, bicycle peddlers, rickshaw pullers, and camel, bullock, or horse-cart drivers jostle to make their way down narrow village lanes or through the maze of traffic on city streets.

2.5 Living and working in the urban informal economy: Working Out of Poverty

Street vendors in Mexico City; rickshaw pullers in Calcutta; jeepney
drivers in Manila; garbage collectors in Bogotá; and roadside barbers in Durban
– those who work on the streets or in the open air are the more visible
occupational groups in the informal economy. The streets of cities, towns,
and villages in most developing countries – and in many developed countries
– are lined with barbers, cobblers, garbage collectors, waste recyclers, and
vendors of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, snack foods, and a myriad of nonperishable
items ranging from locks and keys to soaps and detergents, and
clothing. In many countries, head-loaders, cart pullers, bicycle peddlers,
rickshaw pullers, and camel, bullock, or horse-cart drivers jostle to make
their way down narrow village lanes or through the maze of traffic on city
streets.

Less visible informal workers work in small shops and workshops.
Down the crowded lanes of most cities, towns, or villages are small workshops
that repair bicycles and motorcycles; recycle scrap metal; make furniture
and metal parts; tan leather and stitch shoes; weave, dye, and print cloth;
polish gems; make garments; sort and sell cloth, paper, and metal waste – and
more.

The least visible informal workers, most of them women, sell or produce
goods from their homes: embroiderers; incense-stick rollers; cigarette
rollers; paper bag makers; kite makers; hair band makers; food processors.
Other categories of informal work are casual workers in restaurants and
hotels; subcontracted janitors and security guards; casual or day labourers in
construction and agriculture; and temporary office helpers or off-site data
processors.

The informal economy has been described in a number of ILO reports.
Work in the informal economy is characterized by low levels of skill
and productivity, low or irregular incomes, long working hours, small or undefined
workplaces, unsafe and unhealthy working conditions, and lack of
access to information, markets, finance, training and technology.
Workers in the informal economy are not recognized, registered, regulated
or protected under labour legislation and social protection, often because
their employment status is ambiguous. They are generally not able to exercise or defend their fundamental rights. Facing great difficulties in
organizing themselves, they have little or no collective representation vis-àvis
employers or public authorities. Although most at risk and therefore
most in need, workers in the informal economy have little or no social
protection, either from an employer or from the government. Workers in the
informal economy are often excluded from education, skill building, training,
health care and childcare, which are particularly important for women
workers.

Migration to the city does not break family ties. Most low-income
families have a foot in both the rural and urban labour markets. Indeed,
many casual labourers work for part of the year away from home in urban
areas but return for busy periods to farming; if the urban job becomes more
remunerative they may return only occasionally but send back money to support
the family. As national income rises, the share of household budgets
spent on food falls and this, coupled with increased productivity, creates a
long-run structural decline in employment in agriculture.

This shift is leading to rapid growth of urban settlements and the informal
economy, placing considerable economic and social strains on families
and communities in many developing countries.
Discrimination based on
gender, age, ethnicity or disability also means that the most marginalized
groups tend to end up in the informal economy. They are vulnerable to
harassment, including sexual harassment, and other forms of exploitation
and abuse, such as corruption and bribery. One of the basic problems faced
by most workers and small businesses in the informal economy is that they
cannot prove title to their property, which deprives them of access to both
capital and credit.

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Article Tags: bogot, cart drivers, cigarette rollers, cloth paper, data processors, food processors, garbage collectors, hair band, horse cart, incense stick, informal economy, information markets, jeepney drivers, kite makers, manila garbage, repair bicycles, rickshaw pullers, snack foods, soaps and detergents, waste recyclers



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