The Americas

Statistics on Waste Pickers in Brazil

In the current economic downturn, the job of waste picker has taken on new importance as an employment opportunity for those with limited...

Contrapunto: The Informal Sector Debate in Latin America

Trade unions and informal workers’ associations in the urban informal economy of Ecuador

This paper, which forms part of a knoweldge-sharing project on the informal economy, provides thought-provoking insights into the situation...

Informal Economy Monitoring Study Sector Report: Street Vendors

This report synthesizes qualitative and quantitative data from the first (2012) round of IEMS fieldwork in the street vendor sector in five...

Rethinking Gender and Waste: Exploratory Findings from Participatory Action Research in Brazil

This article focuses on how women waste pickers identify and deal with hierarchical gender relations. Based on findings from an exploratory...

Land, Life, and Security: An Interview with Edgardo Garcia, Secretary General of the Association of Farm Workers in Nicaragua

Abstract: This is an interview with Edgardo Garcia, Secretary General of the Association of Farm Workers in Nicaragua and Oscar Berríos from...

Outside the Law: An Ethnographic Study of Street Vendors in Bogotá

Abstract: Millions of people worldwide work outside the law as street vendors in order to earn a living.

Research on Informal Work in the U.S.: Emerging Concepts and Measurement

Background memo prepared for the WIEGO Workshop on Informal Employment in Developed Countries, Harvard University, October 31 ‐ November...

Working in Large Food Retailers in France and the USA: The Key Role of InstitutionsWork Employment & Society

Abstract: Despite numerous similarities between the food retail sectors of France and the USA, there are significant contrasts in the jobs,...

Informal Urbanism in the USA: New Challenges for Theory and PracticePlanning Theory and Practice

Devlin describes the case of immigrant food vendors in an area of Brooklyn and how as they became more popular with better off New Yorkers...