Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
an adjunct to the large-scale sector of the economy,
producing those goods for which the market is so
reduced and so risky that large-scale enterprises are
not interested in entering' (
ibid.
: p. 121), links
include the formal sector's use of informal sector
enterprises for production, distribution, marketing
and retail (Table 38.5). In times of crisis, declining
fortunes in the formal sector are likely to cut off
valuable sources of contracts and supplies to the
informal sector. Thus, although the informal sector
has continued to expand during the years of crisis
and restructuring (and recovery in some countries
in the early 1990s), it has not been able to absorb all
the job losses in the formal sector.This undoubtedly
accounts for the fact that open unemployment in
many places has risen in an unprecedented manner
during the last two decades. In Argentina, for
instance, urban unemployment in 1991 was 20.2
per cent, compared with 5.6 per cent in 1986
(Bulmer-Thomas 1996: p. 326, Table A9). In the
Côte d'Ivoire, where formal sector jobs fell by 12
per cent between 1980 and 1985, unemployment
escalated from 2 to 14 per cent (Vandemoortele
1991: p. 94).
Leading on from the above, the behaviour of
labour markets in most developing countries over
the last twenty years has borne out the importance
of eschewing notions of labour market dualism,
whereby the formal and informal sectors are
conceived as discrete or autonomous entities.
Instead, and along the lines of Moser's seminal
neo-Marxian exposition on 'petty commodity
production', the labour market is more
appropriately conceptualised as a continuum of
productive activities. This entails recognition of
complex gradations of formality and linkages
between different enterprises, which may well be
more exploitative than benign (Moser 1978; see
also Drakakis-Smith 1987: pp. 72-4; Roberts 1994;
Thomas 1996). Latterly, these ideas have been
worked into the thesis of 'stucturalist articulation',
which views urban labour markets as 'unified
systems encompassing a dense network of
relationships between formal and informal
enterprises' (Portés and Schauffler 1993: p. 48).
Although links between the large- and small-scale
firms are often exploitative, however, it is
recognised that some opportunities may be
opened up for informal enterprises by
globalisation and neoliberal strategies of export
promotion (Portés and Itzigsohn 1997: pp. 240-
1). In many respects, this has encouraged
recommendations for more active and sympathetic
policy stances towards the informal sector.
Table 38.5
Economic linkages between the formal and informal sectors of the urban economy.
Source:
Thomas 1996: pp. 56-9.
Note:
UFS=Urban formal sector.
UIS=Urban informal sector.
