Enhancing Productivity of Informal Enterprises: Why a Mindset Shift Matters

In this live broadcast hosted by the Asian Productivity Organization, Dr Martha Alter Chen, Harvard University Associate and co-founder of WIEGO, will discuss the productivity of the informal sector and the mindset shift needed to accurately understand its true productivity and contribution.

About 6 in 10 workers around the world are informally employed, and 8 in 10 enterprises are informal. These workers and businesses account for a large share of employment and economic activity across Asia and the Pacific, yet their productivity remains persistently low.

But one of the major challenges is how governments understand productivity in the informal economy – with current policies misdiagnosing the problem, treating informality as the cause of low productivity, and formalization and business support as the primary solutions. These approaches overlook the structural barriers that shape how workers in informal employment and enterprises operate.

Dr Chen will explain how recognizing informal enterprises is central to inclusive productivity growth, and how a rethinking of conventional productivity concepts and measures will help to achieve it.

About Dr Martha Chen

Dr Martha Alter Chen is an Associate at the Mittal South Asia Institute, Harvard University, Co-Founder,  Emeritus International Coordinator and Board Member of WIEGO, Board Chair of BRAC Global, and Board Chair of UNU-WIDER.

About the Asian Productivity Organization

The APO is an intergovernmental organization established in 1961 to increase productivity in the Asia-Pacific through mutual cooperation.

It contributes to sustainable socioeconomic development through policy advisory services, acting as a think tank, and undertaking initiatives in multiple sectors, including agriculture and public service.

The current membership is 21 economies: Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Republic of China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkiye, and Vietnam.