1. Statistics on the informal employment & employment in the informal sector: Statistical units
Tite Habiyakare, Senior Statistician,
ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Regional Course on Informality:
Definitions, Measurement, SDGs and Other Policy Indicators
Chiba (Japan), October 2017

2. Contents From the conceptual framework and sub-classifications
To measurement in surveys: key sources of data
Summary statistical units and definitions
ILO Department of Statistics

3. 1. From the conceptual framework and sub-classifications …
ILO Department of Statistics

4. Two separate concepts: IS & IE
Informal sector (IS): enterprise-based (ref. the characteristics of the establishment);
Informal employment (IE): job-based (ref. the characteristics of the job).
Employment in the informal economy is used as a third separate concept, resulting from a combination of the two above.
ILO Department of Statistics

5. Employment in the informal economy
Two components (and 2 statistical units):
Employment in informal sector enterprises (Informal sector employment)
Employment in informal jobs (Informal employment)
Two different aspects of informalization of employment
Important to keep separate as often require different policies
Informal sector employment
Informal employment
Informal jobs outside of IS
Formal jobs in
IS enterprises
Employment in the Informal Economy:
= Informal sector employment + informal employment outside of Informal Sector
ILO Department of Statistics

6. 2. To measurement objectives and sources of data
ILO Department of Statistics

7. Objectives & preferred sources of data1
Number & share of workers in informal employment / and number and share of workers employed in the informal sector 
Labour force survey 
Mixed modular survey 2
Number and share of informal economic units & contribution to GDP: To measure value added of the informal sector & features of economic units 
Establishment survey*
* Or Economic Census 
Mixed survey (otherwise) 3
To measure both employment and production with the same source 
Mixed modular survey
ILO Department of Statistics

8. Measurement through surveys (2 units)
Labour force surveys
To measure jobs/persons in informal economy:
Number & characteristics
Conditions of employment & work
Periodicity: annual or more frequent
Informal sector surveys (enterprise-based) or mixed household enterprise surveys
To measure of number & characteristics of IS enterprises:
Employment, production, income generation, organization & functioning, constraints & potentials, etc.
Periodicity: every 5 years
ILO Department of Statistics

9. From data items needed (3 units)
Persons employed in the informal sector and in informal employment
Number of persons
Demographic and labour characteristics
Informal sector units (enterprises)
Numbers
Characteristics (such as size, industry, etc.)
Production, sales and costs
Informal sector entrepreneurs/ households
Demographic and labour characteristics of entrepreneurs
Demographic and labour characteristics of their households.
ILO Department of Statistics

10. 3. Summary of statistical units, Definitions of selected units
ILO Department of Statistics

11. Statistical units of measurement (1)
Analytical units – for which the statistics are produced
Informal sector unit (informal sector enterprise)
Persons employed in informal sector units, persons in informal employment
Sampling units – units selected in sample
Households, enterprises
Reporting units – that provide information (questionnaire)
Persons, entrepreneurs
Observation units – for which information is collected
Can same time be broader than the analytical unit or reporting units
ILO Department of Statistics

12. Statistical units of measurement (2)
Labour force
survey
Establishment surveys
Mixed surveys
Sample unit
Household
Establishment
Households (first phase);informal sector entrepreneurs (second phase)
Observation unit
Jobs, persons and owners of informal sector units
Establishments jobs
Jobs, workers, and owners of informal sector unit (first phase); informal sector units (second phase)
Reporting unit
One or more members of the household
Owner or manager of establishment
One or more members of the household (first phase); owner of the informal sector unit (second phase)
Analytical unit for employment
Jobs and persons, owners of informal sector units
Jobs
Household component: jobs, persons and owners of informal sector units
Informal sector survey: jobs, owners
Analytical unit for informal
sector units
Establishments
Informal sector units, establishments
ILO Department of Statistics

13. Statistical units: jobs (1)
“A job or work activity is defined as a set of tasks and duties performed, or meant to be performed, by one person for a single economic unit”
Para 12.(b),Resol. I. (19th ICLS, 2013)
Source: 19th ICLS Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization (October 2013).
Economic unit as defined in the 2008 SNA;
The term job is used in reference to employment (Para 12.(b).(i));
When relating to own-use production work, unpaid trainee work, and volunteer work, the unit is referred to as work activity (Para 12.(b).(ii)).
ILO Department of Statistics

14. Statistical units: jobs (2) & informality
A person can have more than one informal and/or formal jobs
A person is in informal employment if at least one of the jobs held is in an informal job
Whether the main or secondary job*
An informal job can be carried out in any type of production unit:
Formal economic units
Informal economic units
Households
(*) In practice however, only the main job is used (as defined by the 18th ICLS).
ILO Department of Statistics

15. Statistical units: establishment (1)
What is an enterprise?
Any unit engaged in the production of goods and services (SNA) that can own assets and incur in liabilities (SNA 2008, Para 2.16)
May have fixed visible premises or not
May be operated by a person working alone or may be a legal entity (corporation)
It may have one establishment or more (very rare even in the formal sector)
What is an establishment?
An enterprise or part of an enterprise that is situated in a single location and in which only a single (non-ancillary) productive activity is carried out or in which the principal productive activity accounts for most of the value added.
ILO Department of Statistics

16. Statistical units: establishment (2) & IS
Institutional units by sector
SNA 2008
Corporations (market units)
Government units (non-market units)
Non-profit institutions (non-market units)
Households
Household unincorporated market enterprises (market units)
Households producing mainly for own final use
Production units by type
(15th ICLS)
Formal sector enterprises
Informal sector enterprises
House-holds
Producers of goods mainly for own use
(but also sell / barter some output)
Producers of goods exclusively for own use
Employers of paid domestic workers
ILO Department of Statistics

17. References
ILO (2013), Measuring informality: A statistical manual on the informal sector and informal employment, Geneva, October 2013;
ILO (2013), Report III - Report of the Conference - 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians, Geneva, October 2013; Geneva, October 2013;
ILO (1993), Resolution concerning statistics of employment in the informal sector, Geneva, January 1993;
ILO (2003), Guidelines concerning a statistical definition of informal employment, Geneva, November 2003.
ILO Department of Statistics