Publication: On Defining and Measuring the Informal Sector: Evidence from Brazil
No Thumbnail Available
Published
2009
ISSN
0305750X
Date
2012-03-30
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Recent debate on the reasons for the informal sector has led to renewed focus on how to operationalize the measurement of informal employment. This paper investigates congruence between three empirical measures of the rate of informality using Brazilian household survey data for the period 1992-2004. Sixty-three percent of the economically active are informal according to at least one definition, but only 40% are informal according to all three. Regression analysis is used to shed further light on differences in these measures. Appropriate measurement is therefore of high significance to policy analysis and design of appropriate strategies to reduce informality.
Link to Data Set
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Citations
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication On Defining and Measuring the Informal Sector(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-03)A range of alternative empirical definitions of informal activity have been employed in the literature. Choice of definition is often dictated by data availability. Different definitions may imply very different conceptual understandings of informality. In this paper the authors investigate the degree of congruence between three definitions of informality based on employment contract registration, social security protection, and the characteristics of the employer and employment using Brazilian household survey data for the period 1992 to 2001. The authors present evidence showing that 64 percent of the economically active population are informal according to at least one definition, but only 40 percent are informal according to all three. Steady compositional changes have been taking place among informal workers, conditional on definition. The econometric analysis reveals that the conditional impact of particular factors (demographic, educational attainment, and family circumstances) on the likelihood of informality varies considerably from one definition to another. The results suggest growing heterogeneity within the informal sector. Therefore, the authors argue that informal activity may be as much associated with entrepreneurial dynamism as with any desire to avoid costly contract registration and social protection. However, the authors confirm there is no a priori reason for entrepreneurial activity to be unprotected. Consequently definitions of informality based on occupation and employer size seem the most arbitrary in practice even if conceptually well-founded.Publication Human Capital and Earnings Inequality in Brazil, 1988-98 : Quantile Regression Evidence(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-10)The authors undertake an empirical examination of rates of return to human capital for men in Brazil, through the period of macroeconomic stabilization and trade liberalization, using data from the 1988, 1992, and 1998 Brazilian household surveys (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domic�os, PNAD). The authors estimate simultaneous quantile equations to gain an insight on the impact of human capital on wages across the hourly earnings distribution. They conclude that there is evidence of growing inequality in rates of return to education in Brazil. But the authors find evidence that education is no longer used as a screening device in the labor market, but rather rewarded for its innate association with higher productivity. Although increases in rates of return to education have been more pronounced at the top of the earnings distribution, this has not led to increased inequality. This is because the levels of education and other labor market-rewarded endowments have increased and offset the rate of return effect.Publication Gender Wage Differentials in Brazil : Trends over a Turbulent Era(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-10)Since the late 1980s, macroeconomic and trade reform in Brazil appears to have been accompanied by a substantial improvement in the position of women compared with men in the labor market, despite only modest changes to labor market institutions. The authors examine movements in the gender wage gap from 1988 to 1998. Their findings indicate that, over this period, the gender wage gap fell mainly because of reduced discrimination against women. But the authors find evidence to suggest that, more recently, since the elimination of high inflation, human capital investments and other earnings-related enhancements have begun to improve women's condition.Publication Measuring Risk on Investment in Informal (Illegal) Housing: Theory and Evidence from Pune, India(2008)In this paper, we analyze a household's decision to invest in informal (illegal) housing in developing countries. Using a simple model of housing supply, we show that the difference in the rates of return on housing investment in the formal and informal sectors reflects the additional risk associated with the latter. Using household survey data from Pune (a large city in India), we estimate this risk premium in the city to be approximately 22%, or 150 basis points. We use our approach to estimate the informal risk premium for cities in other countries based on results from previous studies.Publication Informality Traps(2008)Despite large deregulation efforts, informal economic activity still represents a large share of GDP in many developing countries. In this paper we look at incentives to reduce informal activity when capitalists in the formal sector regulate entry. We consider a dual economy with a formal sector employing educated workers and an informal sector with unskilled workers. We show that high costs of education make labor migration and profits in the formal sector an increasing function of its size. Therefore, incentives to allow capital to be reallocated to the formal sector increase with the size of the formal economy, and unless the formal sector has reached a "critical mass" countries remain in a highly informal equilibrium. We conclude by reviewing policies that can push countries with large informal economies towards formalization.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
No results found.