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Defining and Measuring Informality in the Turkish Labor Market

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  • Elif Öznur Acar
  • Aysit Tansel

    (Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey)

Abstract

This paper investigates how informality can be defined and measured in the Turkish labor market. Two alternative definitions of informality are used to explore their relevance and implications for the Turkish labor market using descriptive statistics. They are the enterprise definition and the social security definition. Further, contributions of individual and job characteristics to the likelihood of informality are investigated using multivariate probit analysis under the two definitions. The social security registration criterion is found to be a better measure of informality in the Turkish labor market given its ability to capture the key relationships between several individual and employment characteristics and the likelihood of informality.The study suggests that preference should be given to social security definition of labor informality for a more accurate depiction of the Turkish labor market. The suitability of the two alternative definitions of informality in the Turkish labor market and its implications have not been investigated before.before.

Suggested Citation

  • Elif Öznur Acar & Aysit Tansel, 2014. "Defining and Measuring Informality in the Turkish Labor Market," Working Papers 897, Economic Research Forum, revised Dec 2014.
    • Handle: RePEc:erg:wpaper:897
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    Cited by:

    1. Duman, Anil, 2020. "Non-Standard Employment and Wage Differences across Gender: a quantile regression approach," GLO Discussion Paper Series 664, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Cem Başlevent & Ayşenur Acar, 2015. "Recent trends in informal employment in Turkey," Yildiz Social Science Review, Yildiz Technical University, vol. 1(1), pages 77-88.
    3. Kaya, Ezgi, 2019. "Gender wage gap across the quantiles:What is the role of firm segregation?," Cardiff Economics Working Papers E2019/7, Cardiff University, Cardiff Business School, Economics Section.
    4. Erten, Bilge & Keskin, Pinar, 2021. "Female employment and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Syrian Refugee inflows to Turkey," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Kerem Cantekin & Ceyhun Elgin, 2017. "Extent And Growth Effects Of Informality In Turkey: Evidence From A Firm-Level Survey," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 62(05), pages 1017-1037, December.
    6. Mehmet Nazım Tamkoç & Orhan Torul, 2020. "Cross-Sectional Facts for Macroeconomists: Wage, Income and Consumption Inequality in Turkey," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 18(2), pages 239-259, June.
    7. Ceyhun Elgin & Muhammed Burak Sezgin, 2017. "Sectoral Estimates of Informality: A New Method and Application for the Turkish Economy," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 55(4), pages 261-289, December.
    8. Adem Yavuz Elveren, 2015. "The Impact of the Informal Employment on the Social Security Deficits in Turkey," World Journal of Applied Economics, WERI-World Economic Research Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 3-19, June.
    9. Cem Baslevent, 2016. "Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Turkey: How Important is the Gender Dimension?," Working Papers 1013, Economic Research Forum, revised Jun 2016.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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