TOC Image: Statistics
Statistics
Problem Statement
The founders of WIEGO recognized the power of statistics in making visible the importance of the informal economy and the situation of those working in it. In the mid-1990s, when WIEGO began, the informal sector was a relatively new concept in labour statistics. Moreover, this concept did not cover certain types of informal wage employment outside informal enterprises.
As it was a new area of statistics, few countries had collected data on the informal sector. Only limited ad hoc estimates were available on informal employment both inside and outside the informal sector, on its contribution to the economy and on the situation of informal workers.
Goals & Objectives
The WIEGO Statistics Programme has two broad goals in its efforts to improve statistics on informal employment and the informal sector:
- To develop statistics on the informal economy as an essential component of mainstream or official statistics at national, regional and international levels by:
- encouraging countries to include the topic in data collection activities and donors to fund these activities
- contributing to the development of improved classifications, concepts and methods for data collection and for estimation of the size of the informal economy and its contribution to the national economy
- assisting in training of statisticians and data users in methods of data collection and tabulation
- To ensure that statistics and analysis are available to policy makers, researchers and advocates in easily accessible formats by:
- preparing compilations of data and reports on the size and contribution of the informal economy and the characteristics and situation of workers in it
- promoting the formation of networks of researchers to analyze data on informal sector and informal employment and related topics
- contributing to the development of data resources for use by analysts
Value Added
A major strength of the WIEGO Statistics Programme is its strong collaboration with both the producers of official statistics and potential users – membership-based organizations of informal workers, NGOs, research institutions and development agencies who need data for analyses and to inform their efforts to influence policy.
A recent evaluation of the WIEGO Statistics Programme noted the unique importance of WIEGO’s focus on statistics: the use of statistics to drive arguments is not uncommon among activists but to place it as the forefront of their work agenda is rare. The evaluator concluded that the Programme chose the correct partners to achieve its statistical goals. (See the WIEGO Impact Evaluation – Evaluator’s Assessment Report, Mainstreaming the Measurement of the Informal Economy in Labour Force and Economic Statistics.)
WIEGO has built on the efforts of, and worked collaboratively with, national statistics offices –especially those that place a high priority on statistics on informal employment, as well as international organizations: specifically the ILO, which under the international statistical system is responsible for labour force statistics; the United Nations Statistics Division, which is responsible for the international system of national accounts (SNA); and the Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics, called the Delhi Group. The Delhi Group was formed in 1997 by countries interested in improving statistics on the informal sector. It reports regularly to the United Nations Statistical Commission. WIEGO has been an active member since 1998. For more information, see the Delhi Group on Informal Sector Statistics; see a list of all Delhi Group meeting reports.
The Statistics Programme has also collaborated with organizations of informal workers – for example, with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), StreetNet, HomeNet South Asia, HomeNet Nepal, the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN) and national and regional associations of waste pickers – to develop data and to provide the resulting data to them in readily-accessible formats.
The WIEGO Statistics Programme operates under the leadership of Joann Vanek, Director, and is supported by an Advisory Committee. The links of the Programme to the research community are strengthened by James Heintz, a labour economist at the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Françoise Carré, a specialist in labour economics, industrial relations, and comparative employment systems at the Center for Social Policy at the University of Massachusetts – Boston. Both have taken a major role in WIEGO statistical and research projects.
Recent data and improved methods related to informal employment – many prepared or promoted by WIEGO – and methods related to definitions, data collection and tabulation on informal employment are found under the Informal Economy section of this website.
Current & Planned Activities
- collaborated with the ILO Department of Statistics to prepare, Statistical Update on Employment in the Infomal Economy, a compilation of data on informal employment and employment in the informal sector from 46 medium and low-income countries with summary findings and user-friendly tables and graphs. The national data presented will be used in preparing regional estimates for the forthcoming ILO/WIEGO publication Women and Men in the Informal Economy 2011. A Statistical Picture.
- participation in the international team preparing the ILO, Delhi Group publication, Manual on Surveys of Informal Employment and Informal (see the Manual’s table of contents and draft chapters)
- promotion of the collection and analysis of data on informal sector and informal employment in national surveys through provision of technical advice to countries, international and regional organizations, and ad hoc groups
- technical support to the Inclusive Cities Project and others in the development of statistics on urban informal employment and on categories of informal workers, specifically home-based workers, waste pickers, street vendors, and domestic workers (see Fact Sheets and Reports)
- planning and preparation of an update of the 2002 ILO publication Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (see the publication proposal)
- follow-up to the meeting on “Measuring Informal Employment in Developed Countries” through provision of technical advice on conceptual work and research on non-standard and informal employment in developed countries
- technical support to the project on “Informality, Poverty and Growth: Labour Markets in China and India”
- planning of a WIEGO conference to build a network of scholars, researchers and statisticians working on the informal economy
- preparation of statistics and analyses in formats that are widely accessible (see Fact Sheets and Reports)
