This paper provides a fresh look at informal employment, a phenomenon of renewed
interest to policy makers and researchers alike. It finds that informal employment is likely to
stay, is sometimes a voluntary choice, can offer better working conditions than formal
employment and is very heterogeneous and diverse. Reasons for these puzzling facts and trends
are discussed by focussing on incentives and constraints determining labour market outcomes.
“Reloading” informal employment argues for a re-thinking of the current policy agenda and
maps out important further directions for research.
