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Center releases new report on informal workers with UCLA’s IRLE

Center releases new report on informal workers with UCLA’s IRLE

March 22, 2021

Access report here.

Every day all across the globe, hundreds of millions of workers leave their homes—or in some cases, stay in their homes—to toil in informal jobs. Informal jobs span dozens of industries and contexts and are increasingly common in many national economies around the world. Definitions of informal employment vary: the broad category includes employees of informal firms as well as informally employed workers in formal firms, some self-employed individuals, and people who work for households who do not necessarily consider themselves employers. Informal workers are thus in a difficult situation when it comes to enforcing their rights, as these rights may not be guaranteed, even in principle, by law. Despite a lack of state recognition or protection, informal workers across the world are organizing in vibrant and powerful movements to create better working conditions. This report is the result of an unprecedented six-nation study of informal workers and their struggles for change. Researchers in China, India, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States engaged in countless hours of interviews, examination of government data, field observations, and other forms of original research to better understand the global but diffuse informal worker movement.

Center releases new report on informal workers with UCLA's IRLE