Giving Compass' Take:

• The author discusses the difficulties of working in the informal economy and how global organizations are putting forth efforts to strengthen these voices and transition workers from the informal to the formal economy. 

• How will protections work out for these employees while they are making the transition? Who will provide for them? How are global enterprises addressing the differences in formal vs informal economies within different countries? 

• Read more about the push to integrate informal workers into the formal economy. 

In 2013 tragedy struck at the Rana Plaza, when a collapsed building resulted in the death of more than 1,000 garment factory workers in Bangladesh—most of them women producing for international brands.

In the years since, the incident has shed light on the deplorable working conditions and vulnerability of the millions of workers around the world who are working and living at the periphery of the formal economy. We call these workers informal workers.

Worldwide, millions of people are working to meet their basic daily needs—and doing so without health coverage, social insurance, or access to maternity or sick leave. These informal workers also do not have voice and representation for their interests, lacking the protection and asset of trade unions. While in most of the Global South “informality” has always been the norm, today the trend is on the rise in more developed and globalized economies, in the form of deregulation, outsourcing, and flex and temp work.

New global voices are helping to make progress when it comes to the recognition, visibility, voice, and representation of informal workers in policy conversations.

In 2015, the International Labour Organization's Recommendation 204 set global standards for a gradual transition from the informal to the formal economy, which would protect the interests of informal workers during the process.

Progressive global and regional networks like WIEGO and ANND are taking important steps in challenging the dominant narrative around informality, and proposing alternative approaches to formalizing and protecting informal workers.  Street vendors, waste pickers, domestic workers, home producers, and agricultural workers are making great strides in organizing, engaging in global conversations around informality, and collectively bargaining for their rights.

In today’s economy, informal has indeed become the new normal. We urgently need policies and planning to catch up with this reality. Only then will the majority of workers be able to earn livelihoods with the dignity and protections that are essential for them, their families, their economies, and broader societies to thrive.

Read the full article about the informal economy by Ghada Abdel Tawab at Ford Foundation