Informal work in sub-Saharan Africa: Dead end or steppingstone?

Michael Danquah, Simone Schotte and Kunal Sen

No wp-2019-107, WIDER Working Paper Series from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Despite rapid economic growth in recent decades, informality remains a persistent phenomenon in the labour markets of many low- and middle-income countries. A key issue in this regard concerns the extent to which informality itself is a persistent state. Using panel data from Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, this paper presents one of the very few analyses providing evidence on this question in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. Our results reveal an important extent of heterogeneity in the transition patterns observed for workers in upper-tier versus lower-tier informality.

Keywords: Informality; Labour market dynamics; Sub-Saharan Africa; Labour market segmentation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-iue
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Journal Article: Informal work in sub-Saharan Africa: Dead end or stepping-stone? (2021)
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