Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 38.1
Stereotypical characteristics of formal and informal employment.
Sources:
Chant 1991b: p. 185, Table 9.4; Drakakis-Smith 1987: p. 65, Table 5.5;
Gilbert and Gugler 1992: p. 96.
marked discussion of the informal sector
include the nature of its link with the formal
sector of the urban economy, its behaviour
during recession and neoliberal economic
restructuring, its role as a mechanism of survival
versus a 'sector of entrepreneurship', and the
question of whether policies should encourage
or inhibit its growth. Another key element in
research on the informal sector is its association
with the increased labour force participation of
women in developing countries, especially
during the last two decades. The present chapter
attempts to summarise the debates that have
surrounded these aspects of informal sector
enquiry and to identify the likely prospects for
informal employment at the beginning of the
twenty-first century.
but homogeneous. While the bulk of informal
workers are found in low-productivity, low-
profit commercial and service activities, a
substantial number are engaged in
manufacturing (see Table 38.2). In some cases,
people work alone or in family groups in
'independent' forms of informal activity.
Acknowledging that economic activities are
rarely completely unconnected with each other
(as discussed later), 'independent' enterprises
may comprise 'frontroom' eateries, stalls or
shops (see Plate 38.1), domestic-based
workshops or manufacturing outlets (Plate
38.2), the sale of home-made food on the
streets, or the touting of services such as shoe-
shining that require little in the way of formally
acquired skills or capital assets. In other
circumstances, people's work in the informal
sector may be linked more directly with the
formal economy. This can include the
distribution of formal sector goods by informal
means (e.g. tricycle transport), or performing
tasks subcontracted by the formal sector. The
latter is usually referred to as 'outwork' or
WHAT IS THE INFORMAL SECTOR?
CHARACTERISTICS AND CONDITIONS
Although it is primarily an employer of low-
income groups, the informal sector is anything
