Browsing: Informal economy

Having an honest job is one of the most respectable activities a person can be consumed with. As long as one is able to pay bills, sustain their livelihoods, while living a dignified life, and of course pay taxes, should the latter be of grave concern, being employed has a positive social stigma associated to it.  

Regardless, the privilege of having a job, especially today is one that many take for granted. Youth, in particular, those entering the workforce have an even tougher road to trek, when finding employment. The matter is worse in the developing world, where jobs are increasingly becoming scarce, even though politicians consistently campaign about job creation as a means to win voters.  

Over the course of the past decade, labor productivity has become a major issue affecting all corners of the globe, but in Africa, the situation stands in peril.  

The International …

Africa’s labour pool is uniquely made up of various sections, the most dominant one being the informal sector—encompassing the most human capital, catering for most young-population livelihoods and it is highly un-attended—in terms of proper management and regulations by governments across the region and there is substantial evidence to back this claim. 

According to a 2018 publication by the World Bank Understanding the informal economy in African cities: Recent evidence from Greater Kampala, the informal sector accounts for huge employment in African cities, marking 86 per cent of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa according to the International Labor Organization estimates (ILO). 

“With a pervasive informal sector, city governments have been struggling with how best to respond. On the one hand, a large informal sector often adds to city congestion, through informal vending and transport services, and does not contribute to city revenue,” …

The Tanzanian informal sector is one of the leading employers’ spheres and a rather pool for mushrooming local or indigenous knowledge and creativity, which eventually remains dormant, and not analyzed keenly.

Available data of the past shows how the informal sector bears merit to the convectional economy if utilized effectively. The International Labor Organization data points out that, non-agriculture jobs in the informal economy represent 66 per cent of all employment in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Further, about 74 per cent of women are within informal employment boundaries, compared to 61 of the males. Data published by Statista, show that agriculture sector—which has been attracting a multitude of the Tanzanian un-employed population, has been the leading employment sector since 2008, where it scored 73 per cent, today it stands at 66.35 per cent.

In August this year, Tanzanian’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Ministry of Finance and Planning, did a …