Building Informal Workers Agenda: Imagining 'Informal Employment' in Conceptual Resolution of 'Informality'

Abstract

There are two major theoretical conceptualizations that explain the formal/informal divide – 'dualism' and 'structuralism'. Neither of these theories offers a complete picture of informal economic activities without running the risk of excluding a large section of informal workers from the purview of its analysis. A better theoretical basis of informal economic activities could be achieved by merging the insights from both of these theories. The 'informal employment' concept bridges the gap between the 'dualist' and the ‘structuralist’ theories in analytically providing a much wider coverage to workers working informally.

Keywords

• dualism
• ILO
• informal employment
• informality
• structuralism