Skip To Content
Working Papers

South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile

By on April 01, 2009

This paper presents a statistical profile of informal employment in South Africa from 2005 to 2007, and attempts to identify the economic value generated by the informal economy in South Africa.

Through descriptive analysis, the paper examines the extent and composition of informal employment and its recent trends. It also highlights the heterogeneity in types of work activities, industries and the returns to informal work.

A key contribution of this paper is that it analyzes South Africa’s informal economy at both the national level and disaggregated by the metropolitan (metro) status of areas.

View list of all: Working Papers

Download the PDF(this link opens in new window)

Citation Information

Wills, Gabrielle. South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile. WIEGO Working Paper No. 6, , . WIEGO, 2009. https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdfWills, G. (2009). South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile. WIEGO Working Paper No. 6, , . https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdfWills, Gabrielle. "South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile." WIEGO Working Paper No. 6, WIEGO, 2009, .Wills Gabrielle. "South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile." WIEGO Working Paper No. 6 (2009). https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdfWills, G 2009, 'South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile', WIEGO Working Paper No. 6, , . https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdfGabrielle Wills, 'South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile' (2009) WIEGO Working Paper No. 6 Wills G. South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile. WIEGO Working Paper No. 6. 2009. https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdfWills, Gabrielle. South Africa’s Informal Economy: A Statistical Profile. WIEGO Working Paper No. 6. 2009. , . https://www.wiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Wills_WIEGO_WP6.pdf

The WIEGO Research Library

WIEGO is at the forefront of developing statistics and research to help audiences understand the informal economy. Our library includes over two decades-worth of informal economy research, policy analysis, statistics and documentation of organizing efforts.