The leading source of labour statistics

Informal employment rate

This snapshot presents global and regional trends along with the most recent country-level figures, based on the latest statistical standards and definitions adopted at the 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) (ILO, 2013), as well as the previous standards from the 13th ICLS (ILO, 1982). In some cases, such as for high-income countries, these statistics may be identical. For more details, refer to the relevant databases and their descriptions.

Quick definition: The informal employment rate is the share of persons who are in informal employment as a percent of total employment. Informal employment comprises persons who in their main or secondary jobs were (a) own-account workers, employers and members of producers’ cooperatives employed in their own informal sector enterprises; (b) own-account workers engaged in the production of goods exclusively for own final use by their household (e.g. subsistence farming); (c) contributing family workers, regardless of whether they work in formal or informal sector enterprises; or (d) employees holding informal jobs, whether employed by formal sector enterprises, informal sector enterprises, or as paid domestic workers by households.

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