WIEGO’s founders recognized the power of statistics to draw attention to the numbers and situation of workers in the informal economy to facilitate understanding of the economy as a whole and to monitor changes over time in informality. The Statistics Programme has been a pillar of WIEGO’s work since its foundation. An evaluation of the Statistics Programme notes the uniqueness of WIEGO’s work in statistics: “the use of statistics to drive arguments is not uncommon among activists, but to place it at the forefront of their work agenda is rare.”
The Programme‘s approach to the development and use of statistics is to collaborate with producers of official statistics (statistical agencies at the international, regional and national levels) and users (membership-based organizations of workers in informal employment, NGOs, research institutions and development agencies.The collaboration between producers of official statistics and users of statistics is key to the success of WIEGO’s statistical work and was featured in “Measuring Social Change: Performance and Accountability in a Complex World” to illustrate an “emergent strategy” that led to successful outcomes in the development and use of statistics on informality.
The Statistics Programme has two main objectives: 1) the development of official statistics on informal employment and its workers at the international, regional and national levels; and 2) making these statistics available widely, including at the city level in easily accessible formats.
Two additional areas of work related to the main objectives are: 3) training national statisticians and programme officers as well as WIEGO’s team and membership-based organizations; and 4) research.
The Programme’s most important partner in this work is the International Labour Organization (ILO). Under the international statistical system, the ILO is responsible for labour force statistics. WIEGO has joined the call for revision of the standards relating to informal employment and participated in ILO working groups that prepare the revisions presented to the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) for their review and recommendation.
For the 21st ICLS, WIEGO contributed to the Resolution Concerning Statistics on the Informal Economy by serving on the Working Group for the Revision of Statistical Standards of Informality, on the Engendering Informality Statistics Technical Advisory Group as well as participating in the Conference. The Resolution will improve standards for measuring the informal economy by providing greater clarity on the criteria for measuring informal employment, dependent contractors and contributing family workers. It will also harmonize employment statistics with the framework of national accounts. In addition, the Resolution specifies indicators and tabulations relevant to WIEGO and workers in informal employment.
WIEGO collaborates with the ILO and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in a project to develop labour statistics with a focus on informal employment in Arab countries. A survey questionnaire that incorporates informal employment, as well as the new standards relating to employment, is being developed and tested in the region.
The Programme contributed to the process of revising the International Classification on Status in Employment (ICSE-18) – an important international framework that provides the basis for classifying jobs according to the nature of work relationships. The ICSE-18 includes new categories and recommendations that better identify workers in informal employment and their working arrangements in national surveys. The Statistics Programme contributed to the revisions, in particular relating to the new category of “dependent contractors”, including homeworkers.
WIEGO is a long-standing member of the Quality of Employment Group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Through this group, the Programme has worked toward the application of the concept of informal employment to developed countries as well as greater harmonization of the categories for measurement of employment in developed countries. A focus for the Programme in 2024 is participating in the subgroup on Forms of Employment.
WIEGO’s Statistics Programme had a major role in the preparation of Measuring Informality, A Statistical Manual on the Informal Sector and Informal Employment, published by the ILO in 2013. It is the main guide for countries on the technical issues in undertaking surveys on informal employment and employment in the informal sector.
WIEGO collaborates directly with membership-based organizations of workers in informal employment and their global and regional networks, including SEWA, StreetNet International, HomeNet South Asia, HomeNet International, the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF) and the International Alliance of Waste Pickers. These users need data to draw attention to their situation and to inform their efforts to influence policy. To meet their needs, as well as those of researchers and policy makers, WIEGO has developed a series of publications.
WIEGO works closely with the ILO in the development and publication of global statistics on the informal economy in readily accessible formats, beginning with the first edition of Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture in 2002. In 2018, this collaboration led to the ILO’s publication of the first global estimates of the size of informal employment, in the 3rd edition of Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture. WIEGO, in collaboration with the ILO, published in 2019 the main findings in a more concise report entitled Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Brief.
WIEGO has a Statistical Brief Series that presents data in a simple and concise format on workers in informal employment at the national, urban and selected-city levels.These briefs not only provide data to a wide set of users but also identify problems in the existing data that require a revision of standards or a change in practices. The Programme then engages with statisticians through research papers, meeting presentations and personal contacts to bring about the needed improvements. Statistical briefs have been prepared on 12 countries and on domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors and market traders, and waste pickers.
WIEGO collaborates with the Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), the ILO, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of the Government of Japan (MIC) in training courses to promote and improve the collection of statistics on informal employment and employment in the informal sector as an integral part of national labour force statistics. Training courses were held in 2015, 2017, 2023 and in 2024 at SIAP in Chiba, Japan.
The Statistics Programme also provides occasional on-demand training for organizations of workers in informal employment on the use of statistics.
The Programme aims to ensure that all WIEGO publications use statistics responsibly and accurately.
The Programme’s recent research contributions include a chapter in the book COVID-19 and the Informal Economy: Impact, Recovery and the Future on “Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Employment”, “A Data User’s Perspective on the New Statistical Standards: Statistical Demands and Challenges in WIEGO’s Work” in the International Statistical Journal of Official Statistics, as well as presentations at meetings of professional associations.
The Statistics Programme works to ensure that statistics-based research on informal employment – produced both by WIEGO and others – uses the most recent standards of the ICLS. It collaborates with other WIEGO Programmes to supply the most recent statistics on informal employment and workers in research publications and prepares papers and presentations for professional conferences and publications.
We work collaboratively with statistical agencies at the international, regional and national levels to develop statistical policies that improve statistics and their availability on workers in informal employment. The data so produced highlight policies needed to improve the livelihoods of workers in informal employment.
The Statistics Programme collaborates directly with worker organizations to determine the data they need, to improve official statistics internationally and in countries so the needed data are available, and to develop statistical briefs in user-friendly formats. Occasional training is provided to worker organizations on how to use the statistics.
The Social Protection Programme supports workers in informal employment to access social protections throughout their life cycle, helping them to mitigate risks to their incomes and cope after shocks.
Social Protection ProgrammeThe Urban Policies Programme works to improve workers’ incomes and the security of their workplaces and homes, and supports workers in negotiating gains in urban policies and practices.
Urban Policies ProgrammeThe Organization and Representation Programme helps organizations of workers in informal employment build organizational and leadership capacity, and connect to each other and with allies as they fight to improve the working conditions of their members.
Organization & Representation ProgrammeThe Law Programme strives for the recognition, inclusion and protection of all workers’ rights in laws and regulations. We also train workers to use the law in their fight for labour rights and protections.
Law Programme
