World – More than 60% of population in informal economy, ILO report says

More than 60% of the world’s employed population, or 2 billion people, are employed in the informal economy not regulated or monitored by a government entity, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization.

“There is an urgent need to tackle informality,” said Florence Bonnet, one of the report’s authors. “For hundreds of millions of workers, informality means a lack of social protection, rights at work and decent working conditions, and for enterprises it means low productivity and lack of access to finance.

In Africa 85.8% of employment is informal, it’s 68.6% in Arab states, 68.2% in Asia Pacific, 40.0% in the Americas and 25.1% in Europe and Central Asia.

More men, 62.0%, than women, 58.1%, work in informal employment. The report notes women are more exposed to informal employment in most low- and lower-middle income countries and are often found in the most vulnerable situations. And people living in rural areas are almost twice as likely to be in informal employment as those in urban areas.

However, rethinking complex regulations as well as recognizing the role private employment agencies play in spurring employment could help, David Herranz, regional head, Adecco Group Latin America, wrote in a post on the World Economic Forum.

The ILO report, “Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture” was authored by Bonnet and Vicky Leung.

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