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It is fair to say that there are a number of legitimate and often complex challenges that governments face in expanding social protection to workers in the informal economy. These include legal, financial, administrative and institutional barriers. Yet, there are also plenty of examples from around...
COVID-19 has exposed government inaction in extending dignity and fairness to informal economy workers in the most brutal way. Let’s take a look inside the policy toolbox governments have used to get workers through the COVID-19 crisis.
“Nuestras manos cartoneras han hecho del mundo un lugar mejor.” – Jaquelina Flores, de la Alianza Global de Recicladores. “Esto es trabajo. No es solo darte una mano en casa.” – Carmen Britez, vicepresidenta de la Federación Internacional de Trabajadores del Hogar (IDWF). No había manera de...
WIEGO’s Mike Rogan and Laura Alfers discuss how the pandemic has underscored the importance of social protection and public services to guarantee the livelihoods of women and men working in the informal economy.
The Indian government’s Public Distribution System (PDS) shops have always played a critical role in addressing food insecurity in urban poor communities India. Ration cards issued through the PDS are like food stamps issued to each family, which entitle them to a fixed amount of food on a monthly...
Data from the first round of the WIEGO-led COVID-19 Crisis and the Informal Economy Study in 12 cities point to three common patterns across worker groups and continents. The first is a sudden and massive drop in earnings. Given that many informal workers earn day-to-day to meet basic needs, and...
With formal workers buffered to some extent by the protection provided through their formalized work relations, and the poorest of the poor able to cling to their pre-existing lifeline of governmental social assistance, it was the ‘missing middle’, often uncovered by any protection programmes, that...
There are no economic indicators so important or revealing as the words of workers. Today, the voices of informal economy workers, who constitute 60 per cent of the world’s workforce, are helping us unpack the hardship, injustice, and possibility for transformation within our economic system, laid...
Social distancing and staying home are real possibilities for middle-class office workers covered by social security. They are much less achievable for unprotected informal workers who fall between the cracks, excluded from formal work-related protections as well as from state social assistance...
Few public investments will have as transformative an impact on present and future generations, and on equality between women and men and across social classes, as the investment in childcare. In a new policy brief series, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and WIEGO reveal why childcare...
Videos / Slideshows / Audio
Millions of women work long hours, in dangerous conditions, for little pay. They are fighting for change, with the help of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. Watch this video to learn how.
Workers Education/Organizing Materials
This manual helps street vendors learn more about the regulations that govern public space and how to defend the right to work in public space. It describes successful actions taken by street vendor organizations. And it offers information to help you organize and negotiate with local government.
WIEGO Working Papers
Mike Rogan reviews how informal workers are taxed, why there is growing interest in taxing them, and whether they should be included in the tax net.