News | Objectives of the Project | Guiding Questions | Outputs | Contact

 

DEV Working Paper No. 307: Labour Market Changes, Labour Disputes and Social Cohesion in China (January 2012)

 

Past events:

• Listen to Head of the Perspectives on Global Development Desk Johannes Jütting at an interview for the International Relations and Security Network. (See also: Perspectives on Global Development, 2010 report)
• 8 April 2009: International Seminar on "Employment and Inequality Outcomes: New Evidence, Links and Policy Responses in Brazil, China and India".

 

Is Informal Normal

 

In 2009, the Development Centre’s Poverty Reduction and Social Development flagship publication will cover as a main theme Employment and Social Protection. At the heart of this debate is the phenomenon of informal employment, a term broadly referring to non-registered and/or non-protected work. "Is Informal Normal?" assembles new empirical insights and analyses policies regarding labour markets, vulnerability and social insurance.

 

Objectives of the Project

As informal employment is not yet well understood, a first aim of this project is to map out the heterogeneity of types of informal work, rationales behind informal employment, as well as the well-being of the workers involved. This exercise will be performed for several countries in order to also shed light on the large differences between countries in this respect.

The challenge of informal employment is also one of governance. A second aim of this project is thus to identify the elements of a coherent policy strategy and a suitable regulatory framework that would integrate the employment and social protection agendas and would contribute to the fight against poverty and social exclusion. In particular, our project will try to outline ways to achieve internal coherence across various policy domains.

 

Guiding Questions

Several country case studies, including China, Mexico, and Romania, will help answer following questions:

• How important is informal employment and what kind of activities does it concern?
• How does formal or informal employment affect a person’s well-being? 
• What are the main determinants explaining informal employment?
• What are the relevant policies in place and to what extent can they be improved towards more effective and coherent strategies?

 

Outputs

Following is a list of (expected) outputs and publications. Please note that the titles of publications and actual publication dates may change:

• IDS Bulletin 39.2: Informal Employment Re-loaded, J. Jütting, J. Parlevliet and T. Xenogiani (based on Informal Employment Re-loaded, January 2008)
• Policy Insight No 56: Informal Employment - Can We Tame the Beast?, J. Parlevliet, J. Jütting and T. Xenogiani (January 2008)
• Working Paper 271: Report on Informal Employment in Romania, J. Parlevliet and T. Xenogiani (July 2008)
• Policy Insight No. 70: The Two Faces of Informal Employment in Romania, D. Drechsler and T. Xenogiani (July 2008)
• Mexico Case Study: Integrating the Employment and Social Development Agendas, J. de Laiglesia et al. (forthcoming)
• China Case Study: Internal Migration and Development in China, Development Centre, in co-operation with the Chinese Development Research Center (forthcoming)
• Working Paper No. 278: Are All Migrants really worse off in rural labour markets? New empirical evidence from China, J. Gagnon, T. Xenogiani and C.Xing (2009)
• Development Centre Perspectives:  Is Informal Normal? Towards More and Better Jobs in Developing Countries (April 2009)

 

 

Contact

For more information, please contact us at Dev.Gender@oecd.org. 

 

Related Documents

 

Gender at the Development Centre

Migration at the Development Centre

Internal Migration in China and the Effects on Sending Countries

Is Informal Normal? Towards More and Better Jobs in Developing Countries

Development Centre Studies: Informal Institutions