May 08, 2017
2016 - Arab Watch Report on Informal Employment

2016 - Arab Watch Report on Informal Employment


Introduction

Since the eruption of the Arab Spring, Arab countries have been facing major challenges that can almost be described as existential challenges. On the one hand, the past decades have shown us that states ruled by dictatorships without any sort of accountability have failed to provide basic needs and protect the individual and collective rights of their citizens, and on the other, transition from dictatorship towards democracy has not been easy and even more complicated than expected.

Arab revolutions have erupted in protest against dictatorships that have excessively silenced and suppressed their peoples and violently annihilated political diversity. However, social and economic demands were by far the most prominent demands as economic, social, geographic, gender, ethnic, and religious inequalities widened. Perhaps, increasing poverty, unemployment, and marginalization were the factors that led to the eruption of anger and revolutions throughout the Arab region.


List of contents

Introduction - Ziad Abdel Samad (ANND Executive Director)
Since the eruption of the Arab Spring, Arab countries have been facing major challenges that can almost be described as existential challenges. On the one hand, the past decades have shown us that states ruled by dictatorships without any sort of accountability have failed to provide basic needs and protect the individual and collective rights of their citizens, and on the other, transition from dictatorship towards democracy has not been easy and even more complicated than expected.


Past and Future of Informal Workers - Roberto Bissio
The informal economy comprises halfto three-quarters of all non-agricultural employment in developing countries, accordingto the International Labor Organization (ILO). In the Global South, Workers employed with a formal contractand benefitingfrom social protection are a minority.


Informal Labor :Reality and Rights - Samir Aita
The present report highlights the factors that have led to the expansion of informal labor in Arab countries outside the agricultural labor.


The Informal Economy in Arab Nations: A Comparative Perspective - Martha Chen and Jenna Harvey (WEGO Network)
Across the Global South, most workersearn their livelihoods in the informal economy and most low-income householdsare sustained by livelihoods.


Informal Labor in Arab Countries - Samir Aita
Informal work is no marginal problem in a world heading towards organization. It is a characteristic of a globalized economy and a modern division of labor.


Neoliberal policies and informal labor in the Arab region - Mohammed Said El Saadi
According to the definition of the International Labor Organization (ILO), informal economy encompasses all workers’ economic activities, in addition to the economic units that are not covered by official requirements and measures and regulatory requirements, either because this category of workers is active in sectors that are not covered by laws, or because laws that are supposed to protect them are not applied.


Gender dimensions of informal labor - Dr Huwaida Adli
Literature on women's economic empowerment confirm the importance of labor as one of the main pillars of women's economic independence and participation in public life, in a way to promote their social status and ability to take part to the decision making, whether on the political level, in businesses, or within families.


Informal labor in the Arab countries through international statistical indicators and data - Dr. Azzam Mahjoub and Mr. Mohammed Munzer Balghith
The present report includes a variety of data collected from numerous trusted and specialized international sources, studies, and databases


Informal Labor and Migrationin the Arab Region - Shahir Georges
This Paper aims to understand the recent impact of immigration on informal employment in the Arab region.


National Reports on Informal Labor
- Algeria
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Iraq
- Lebanon
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Palestine
- Sudan
- Syria
- Yemen
- Jordan





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