What, Who, Why and Ways out of the Informal Economy: A Brief Review of Key Definitions and Approaches

Abstract

While the different forms of informal economy bring about a wide variety of employment relationships that can be conducive of innovative economic activities, the majority of informal employment relationships are associated with low quality employment and insufficient social protection. Consequently, the informal economy may limit the development of sustained ”decent” work (UN Sustainable Development Goals 8, UN 2017), which includes fair working conditions, equal opportunities and social protection (European Commission 2017). Therefore, the article will discuss different ways to transform informal employment into formal. It aims to systematise What the informal economy is; Who participates in informal economic activities and Why; and how existing bodies of knowledge can be used to plan and facilitate Ways out of an over reliance on the informal economy.