Supporting Strategy – Collecting Statistics on the Informal Economy

To strengthen the voice of informal workers in the policy process, their contributions to the economy and the nature of their work need to be visible to policy-makers. What is needed is improved labour statistics and other information on informal labour markets. In recognition of the fact that statistics are of vital importance in the economic planning process, the ILO Statistics Bureau, together with the International Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics (the Delhi Group), has been working actively with central statistical offices and informed data users in various countries, including the global research policy network WIEGO, to develop improved methods for the collection and compilation of data on the full range of workers in the informal economy, including the self-employed in informal enterprises and a whole range of informal wage workers. New data and statistics are already becoming available and being utilised by selected governments around the world.