The Informal Economy and Street Vendors
What the Informal Economy Is
The informal economy covers work and businesses outside formal registration, tax and labour law, and it employs most Indians.
The informal economy includes jobs and firms that are not covered by formal rules such as registration, written contracts, social security or regular tax filing.
Who is in it
Street vendors, domestic workers, construction labourers, small farmers, home-based workers and tiny shops are typical examples.
How large
Around nine in ten Indian workers are informally employed, according to official and international estimates, which makes informality the norm.
Informal jobs in formal firms
Even large firms hire contract or casual workers without benefits, so informality is not limited to small enterprises.
She buys stock from the wholesale market at dawn and sells on a pavement, with no licence, no contract and no pension.
Most informal work is legal but unregistered or unprotected.
- Informal work lies outside formal rules.
- It employs most Indian workers.
- It exists inside formal firms too.
- Informal is not the same as illegal.
No recording for this one yet - EconReader can read it aloud for you.