If the best people management practices of the formal economy were to be deployed in the informal economy, new avenues of stimulating economic and life empowerment may be opened.
Informal workers, in particular women, took a big hit from the COVID-19 lockdown measures. A multi-faceted support package, informed by the gendered nature of work, is urgently called for.
What social protection measures are in place for those who’ll be worst affected by the economic impacts of the lockdown?
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Informal retailers that dot South Africa’s townships have changed dramatically, but at great cost - avoidance of regulation and exploitation of employees.
Working hours in the informal sector are long, and earnings often low.
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The informal sector represents an opportunity to improve the lives of a large part of the workforce. Government should desist from harming livelihoods and broaden the scope of policy measures.
Understanding how people move through job sectors is crucial.
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Street vendors are the most visible of the people who work in the informal sector – up to half the urban workforce in cities like Manila – but whose needs and rights receive no official recognition.
A vendor at the Sigida Market, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.
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The extent to which mobile phones can support and sustain real improvement in young lives is depressingly finite unless significant interventions occur.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world despite its ranking as one of the ‘least liveable’.
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Bringing significant benefits to an emergent middle class, Dhaka’s cultural, economic, environmental and political landscapes are being rapidly but unevenly transformed.
Employers should provide an enabling environment at work for women to continue breastfeeding their infants.
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