Informal Labour Markets and Development

This book presents significant new research on the informal labour markets of developing countries. Examining the critical role of informal labour markets in allowing countries to adjust successfully to the forces of globalization, this volume also brings to the fore a number of problems associated with the expansion of informal employment, such as poor working conditions, the lack of worker protection and the proliferation of urban slums. Comprising theoretical and empirical case studies from Africa, Asia, Central Europe and Latin America, it facilitates comparisons across developing countries from diverse geographical areas.

This book examines the role of informal labour markets in facilitating globalization in developing countries, while also raising some key difficulties associated with the expansion of such markets.

BASUDEB GUHA-KHASNOBIS is a Research Fellow and Project Director at UNU-WIDER, Finland. Previous appointments include IGIDR (Mumbai), the EXIM Bank of India (Bangalore), ICRIER (New Delhi), and as a research consultant for several international organizations. He is the editor of The WTO, Developing Countries and the Doha Development Agenda.

RAVI KANBUR is T.H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell University, USA, and previously Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick, UK, and Chief Economist for Africa at the World Bank.