A data user's perspective on the new statistical standards on informality: Statistical demands and challenges in WIEGO's work

This paper presents a data user's perspective on how recent changes in statistical standards have successfully addressed challenges to improving statistics on workers in informal employment, and making these statistics accessible. The findings are based on recent work of the Statistics Programe of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), using data from several national labour force surveys. WIEGO is a global research and policy network focused on empowering the working poor, especially women in the informal economy, to improve their livelihood. The paper focuses on measurement challenges in identifying key groups of informal workers, alongside related developments in international statistical standards, including improvements in the classification and identification of dependent contractors and contributing family workers through the new International Classification of Status in Employment (ICSE-18). The importance of a well-defined cross-cutting variable on place of work in identifying street vendors, market traders, home-based workers and domestic workers is also discussed. The paper highlights the need to measure emerging forms of non-standard employment in high income countries that display characteristics of informal employment. Finally, the paper raises the importance of disseminating data following the recommendations of the Informal Economy Indicator Framework, approved at the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2023.