A key challenge for the post-COVID global economy is whether the disproportionate impact of the crisis on informal workers, who form the majority of the world's workforce, will be acknowledged. Or whether harmful and negative stereotypes will persist. Today, despite the role of these essential frontline workers many observers consider the informal economy to be non-compliant (resisting registration and taxation) and associate it with low productivity (a drag on the economy) or with crime (illegal activities) and grime (blight on modern cities). Yet, most informal workers are working poor trying to earn an honest living in often hostile environments. Most suffered severe declines in work and earnings during successive waves of the COVID pandemic, and related restrictions and recessions, and have gone deeper into debt and depleted their savings and assets in order to survive. This book explores and informs answers to that key challenge. It presents findings on the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers in Asia, Africa and North and Latin America. The chapters of the volume analyse the impact of the COVID crisis on informal workers, interrogate whether and which economic recovery plans and schemes include informal workers and explore what a more inclusive economic recovery and reforms might look like.
1. COVID-19 and informal work: degrees and pathways of impact in 11 cities around the world / 2. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment: national labour surveys in five Latin American countries and field research in 11 cities around the world / 3. Impact of COVID-19 on employment and earnings in Ghana / 4. South Africa's informal economy and COVID-19: differentiated impacts and an uneven recovery / 5. Impact of COVID-19 on urban vulnerable livelihoods: accounts from residents of Cape Town's largest township / 6. Recovery with distress: unpacking COVID-19 impact on livelihoods and poverty in rural areas and urban low-income settlements of Bangladesh / 7. The COVID-19 pandemic and intra-household bargaining: a case of domestic workers in Delhi / 8. The uneven path to recovery: the Sub-Saharan African experience / 9. Informal employment and an inclusive recovery: what is missing from national economic recovery plans / 10. Social protection, the COVID-19 crisis, and the informal economy: lessons from relief for comprehensive social protection / 11. A new social contract inclusive of informal workers / 12. Reflections on informal employment, COVID-19, and the future /

xxv, 321 p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

9780198887041