LECTURER: NAILA KABEER From Informal Sector to Informal Economy:

Conceptualising the informal sector: dualist versus integrated/assessment of causes ILO: failure of capital-intensive industrialization/definition by enterprise characteristics -small scale Family owned Indigenous, not imported, materials labour-intensive, low tech Non-formal skills Ease of entry unregulated

Conceptualising the informal sector: dualist versus integrated/assessment of causes Marxists/structuralists: supply cheap wage goods/reserve army of labour/integrated with but subordinate to formal capitalist enterprise Regulation/legal centred approaches (current orthodoxy)

Three points to make about regulation Individual costs but also public good Continuum, not dichotomy Informality rising in era of declining regulation

Rising informality as product of neo-liberal policy regime - Decline in public sector employment - Integration into globally integrated economy through trade and investment - Targeting inflation growth rather than employment generation - Deregulation of labour markets - Increased pressure to work - Vicious cycle

Need a more comprehensive understanding of informality to capture heterogeneity, pervasiveness and growth Spans sectors and enterprises Differentiated by goals Segmented by endowments and identities

ILO: redefining informal work Informal employment is employment without secure contracts, workers benefits or social protection encompassing different working relationships: - self employment in informal enterprises (small/unregistered), as employees, own account workers and unpaid but contributing family workers -wage employment in informal jobs as employees of informal enterprises, informal wage workers for formal firms or households, casual day labourers, domestic workers, contract workers, temporary and part time workers (outside legal regulations)

Explaining gender segmentation in global economy The ‘cool’ chain The ‘care’ chain Sex work and sexual trafficking

Responses to informalisation Employment centred macro economic policy Extending regulatory framework to informal economy Promoting enterprise Non-government regulation Social protection Voice, organisation and collective action