IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v16y2016i2p203-218.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informalization and decent work: Labour’s challenge

Author

Listed:
  • Edward Webster

    (Decent Work and Development Initiative, Society, Work and Development Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.)

  • Katherine Joynt

    (Decent Work and Development Initiative, Society, Work and Development Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.)

  • Thabang Sefalafala

    (Decent Work and Development Initiative, Society, Work and Development Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.)

Abstract

This article identifies a growing number of workers falling outside the regulatory net of both the state and the trade union movement in South Africa on the basis of an examination of working conditions among private security guards and survivalist enterprises in the clothing sector. Traditional unions have had limited success in organizing these sectors because of the composition of the workforce as well as the nature of their work. New forms of organization, strategies and sources of power will need to be constructed if labour and its allies are to achieve better working and living conditions for all.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward Webster & Katherine Joynt & Thabang Sefalafala, 2016. "Informalization and decent work: Labour’s challenge," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 16(2), pages 203-218, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:16:y:2016:i:2:p:203-218
    DOI: 10.1177/1464993415623152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1464993415623152
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1464993415623152?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Alexander, 2010. "Rebellion of the poor: South Africa's service delivery protests -- a preliminary analysis," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(123), pages 25-40, March.
    2. Marty Chen, 2005. "Rethinking the Informal Economy: Linkages with the Formal Economy and the Formal Regulatory Environment," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.
    2. Rafaela Bastidas & Nicolás Acosta, 2019. "Misallocation and manufacturing TFP in Ecuador: formal, semi-formal and informal firms," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 8(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Sugata Marjit & Biswajit Mandal, 2016. "International Trade, Migration and Unemployment – The Role of Informal Sector," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 8-22, March.
    4. Ronelle Burger & Megan Louw & Brigitte Barbara Isabel de Oliveira Pegado & Servaas van der Berg, 2015. "Understanding consumption patterns of the established and emerging South African black middle class," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 41-56, January.
    5. Laure Pasquier-Doumer, 2013. "Intergenerational Transmission of Self-Employed Status in the Informal Sector: A Constrained Choice or Better Income Prospects? Evidence from Seven West African Countries," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(1), pages 73-111, January.
    6. Rapatsa Mashele, 2017. "Student Activists or Student Anarchists? South Africa’s Contemporary Student Protests Reviewed," European Review of Applied Sociology, Sciendo, vol. 10(15), pages 13-20, December.
    7. Rachel Lock & Helen Lawton Smith, 2015. "The impact of female entrepreneurship on economic growth in Kenya," Working Papers 26, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Nov 2015.
    8. Ceyhun Elgin & M. ayhan Köse & Franziska Ohnsorge & Shu Yu, 2021. "Growing Apart or Moving Together? Synchronization of Informal and Formal Economy Cycles Abstract:," Working Papers 2021/04, Bogazici University, Department of Economics.
    9. Sharma, Gautam, 2024. "‘Making’ in India: Understanding Makerspaces and Fablabs in the Indian Informal Innovation Context," Papers in Innovation Studies 2024/2, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    10. Krasynska Svitlana, 2015. "Contra Spem Spero: The Third Sector’s Resilience in the Face of Political Turbulence and Legislative Change in Ukraine," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 167-186, August.
    11. Reeg, Caroline, 2015. "Micro and small enterprises as drivers for job creation and decent work," IDOS Discussion Papers 10/2015, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    12. Weber, Olaf & Ahmad, Adnan, 2014. "Empowerment Through Microfinance: The Relation Between Loan Cycle and Level of Empowerment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 75-87.
    13. Luiz, John M. & Barnard, Helena, 2022. "Home country (in)stability and the locational portfolio construction of emerging market multinational enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 17-32.
    14. Floridi, A. & Wagner, N. & Cameron, J., 2016. "A study of Egyptian and Palestine trans-formal firms – A neglected category operating in the borderland between formality and informality," ISS Working Papers - General Series 619, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    15. Michael Neocosmos, 2016. "The Sociology of Crisis and the Crisis of Sociology: Academic Marxism and the Absence of a Thought of Politics in South Africa," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(1), pages 188-202, January.
    16. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Richard M. Bird, 2011. "Value-Added Tax: Onward and Upward?," Chapters, in: Emilio Albi & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (ed.), The Elgar Guide to Tax Systems, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Sophie Oldfield, 2015. "Between activism and the academy: The urban as political terrain," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(11), pages 2072-2086, August.
    18. Loudi Njoya & Ibrahim Ngouhouo & Moussa Njoupouognigni & Schneider Friederich & Zenabou Tourere, 2024. "Can we understand the simultaneous evolution between economic and informality growth in Africa? A preliminary explanation," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(1), pages 398-414, January.
    19. Mehak Majeed & Zahid Gulzar Rather & Saeed Owais Mushtaq, 2024. "Informal enterprise as harbinger of women empowerment in India," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 26(2), pages 435-456, August.
    20. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7080 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Tobias Lechtenfeld & Asmus Zoch, 2014. "Income Convergence in South Africa: Fact or Measurement Error?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 157, Courant Research Centre PEG.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:16:y:2016:i:2:p:203-218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.