GIGA / KfW Project: ‘Employment, empowerment and living standards’

1. Perceptions of ‘Good Work’ in the Informal Urban Economy: Evidence from Burkina Faso, Uganda and Sri Lanka • Will Monteith & Lena Giesbert

2. GIGA / KfW Project:‘Employment, empowerment and living standards’ • EADI, Bonn: 26 June 2014

3. Quality of work • Structural: control of the means of production • (Marx 1967) • Market-based: the concept of compensating differentials • (Smith 1996) • Fundamental to autonomy, self-respect and human flourishing • (Sen 1993) Historical policy focus on job quality quantity • Sarkozy Commission, ILO’s ‘decent work’ initiative • Empirical literature: US & EU focus

5. The ILO’s ‘decent work’ initiative • “The primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equality, security and human dignity” • Quality of work as a multidimensional concept • 4 dimensions: Fundamental rights at work • Employment conditions • Social protection • Social dialogue • ILO 1999

6. Critiques • “‘The priority given to these different dimensions of ‘decent work’ will differ between societies and individuals… What is regarded as decent varies across societies and cultures.” • Rodgers 2008: 66 “There is a need to collect data and information relating to decent work characteristics for workers in non- formal employment” !! Ghai 2003: 144

7. Work and the informal sector • From a ‘black hole’ to an ‘entrepreneurial’ factory: the informal sector is here to stay! • “Informal jobs can also be transformational” • World Development Report 2013: Jobs • 30-40% of employment in the developing world Becker 2004 • Micro-economic literature: entrepreneurship • Socio-political literature: • What kinds of incorporation do informal workers seek: • - Freedom to operate? • - Greater access to social protection? • - Integration into markets? • - Meaningful political voice? • Meagher & Lindell 2013

8. What is the informal sector? • All entrepreneurial activities that are unregistered, and “lack basic social or legal protections or employment benefits” • Includes: • (i) Self-employed entrepreneurs working in their own informal • sector enterprises; • (ii) Employees working in the informal enterprises of others and • (iii) Members of informal producers’ cooperatives • ILO 2012: 27

9. Empirical contributions • Motivations of young entrepreneurs in Uganda: • - ‘Independence and freedom’ a primary motivation • Langevang et. al 2012 • ‘Decent work’ survey of informal workers in Harare, Zimbabwe: • - Low income, long working hours, poor political representation • Luebker 2008

10. “What is missing in this approach is the view of work, not just as an economic occupation and a social relation, but also as an activity, one that impacts significantly on individual well-being inasmuch as it mobilizes the body, mind and soul of the workers.” “What is required, therefore, is a notion of work that is not limited to employment but also takes into consideration the ‘poietic’ side of work, or the content of work.” Deranty & Macmillan 2012

11. Work and Capabilities • Sen on ‘entitlement exchange’ (1981) • Social & environmental conversion factors • Features of work  Capabilities Achieved functionings • Individual conversion • factors • After: Robeyns 2005

12. Methodology- 13 FGDs in total (Ouaga, Kampala & Colombo) in 2012 with informal employment groups & associations - Guidelines- 2-stage approach to qualitative analysis (Saldana 2013)

13. Results • “Considering your own work and the work of others, what do you think makes work good work?”

14. Results • Economic dimensions

15. Results • Social dimensions

16. Results • Psychological dimensions

17. Results • Significance of non-cognitive skills / modes of behaviour?

18. Thematic analysis: Income • Personal survival: working to ‘kill hunger’ • “We use our income to resolve a number of problems. These days, life is very difficult, especially when you have a family to look after. We are responsible for our children’s education, their health, as well as their [other] needs and it’s thanks to the money we earn that we can cover these expenses.” • Burkinabé produce vendor • “Our job enables us to look after our family very well… I am proud [of it] because I have been able to build, [and] educate my children” • Ugandan carpenter

19. Freedom/independence • “Freedom is there, independence is there, variety is there, [we are] financially good, so we are like birds on three-wheels, only feathers are missing […] others envy us for having those [features].” • Sri Lankan 3-wheel driver • “You are not supposed to fall sick, lose a loved one or go to parties or ceremonies. You cannot tell a customer that you delayed their work because you lost a loved one. That customer will claim that tailors and carpenters are fond of losing loved ones!” • Ugandan tailor • “The days we get more freedom we are not earning” … “If we stay free, we have to stay hungry at home.” • Sri Lankan transport worker

20. Health • “[A good job] it’s a job that doesn’t provoke sickness. If you work in certain jobs, you will get sick. Even if you take [FCA] 1million per month […] it is not a good job.” • Burkinabé produce vendor • Bandages & traditional medicines: access to health services • Access to health services • Health & safety • at work • Capability to good • bodily health • Attainment of good • bodily health

21. Trust & relationships Relationships with customers (trust) - informal contractual system? • Relationships with colleagues (solidarity) - informal insurance mechanism? • “Good work does not exist when you are alone” • Burkinabé mechanic • “For around 30 years all [workers] near the Titus Stores Building have been like brothers […] if someone goes down in business we all discuss it and help him. It has happened to me, I’ve fallen sick, they have come to the hospital and helped me […] I was very happy when they came to see me, they even bought clothes for me.” • Sri Lankan 3-wheel driver

22. Respect & recognition • “When the stomach is full any person looks for respect, [however] the level of respect differs according to how the stomach was filled.” • Sri Lankan transport worker • “I would not want my child to suffer like me. At least he should work in an office where they will not despise or mistreat him like my customers are doing to me.” • Ugandan tailor • Structural position of the informal sector in society (Meagher) • Class relations & social norms • pertaining to (informal) work • Features of • work • Capability to be • recognised/respected • Attainment of • respect/recognition

23. Conclusions • Informal workers understand good work not as a set of static terms and conditions but instead a series of relationships - with customers (the market), the household and broader society • Individual features of work are important insofar as they provide • particular capabilities (and resolutions to particular problems) • The idea of autonomy/independence appears to hold particular • significance amongst informal workers The experienced benefits of informal work are heightened and dampened by social and environmental conversion factors • Such structural factors are often backgrounded in studies of entrepreneurship and universal frameworks of quality of work

24. The ILO’s ‘decent work’ initiative • 4 dimensions: Fundamental rights at work • Employment conditions • Social protection • Social dialogue • M – Union density rate (S) • M – Enterprises belonging to employer organization [rate] • M – Collective bargaining coverage rate (S) • M – Days not worked due to strikes and lockouts**

25. END

26. Why do perceptions matter? “People’s preferences are considered a fundamental part of well-being evaluation… [In so far as] subjective information reflects people’s desires and wishes, it is considered an important expression of the human life.” Bagolin et. al 2004

27. Sampling

28. Uganda • Fundamental rights • “Our problem is awareness. We are not aware of our rights because some of us have been to places where your boss will tell you ‘now I have dismissed you from the teaching profession’ and you walk out. That is it because you don’t know your right; […] We are not aware of our rights.” • Participant ‘A’, Teachers FGD • “Fundamental rights are property of the boss. Especially in the private sector he is the one to measure how much freedom to give you. […] It is the boss who has the freedom. […] If you lose a loved one you cannot go for burial if he does not allow you. If you are sick, he would tell you to be away for only two days.” • Participant ‘K’, KACITA

29. Inter-group differences: Gender • Women prioritise income, men prioritise capital investment (survival/growth delineation) • Women tend to prioritise health (including psychological support)

30. Inter-group differences: Profession • Relationship between level of formality and knowledge of rights at work • Formal professions take longer-term view of work and prioritise career development • ‘Informal’ professions prioritise environmental factors (infrastructure, utilities, safety) • ‘Informal’ professions prioritise relationships at work (enhanced significance of social networks)

31. Initial Findings • People have multiple, heterogeneous perceptions of what constitutes ‘good work. • Langevang et al. (2012). ‘Beyond necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship’ • People’s perceptions and experiences of work are rooted in social and cultural context • To take these perceptions seriously, we need to move beyond universal, term and condition-based understandings of ‘decent work’ • Health and environmental aspects are of primary importance to workers in East/West Africa • Knowledge of ‘decent work’ (esp. fundamental rights) is inconsistent • The pressures/stresses of work come from below (e.g. customers, family) in addition to above (bosses, legislation)

32. Implications for Measurement & Evaluation • Supplementation of universal ‘decent work’ indicators with local ones • The separation of different elements of work is problematic • Importance of network-based approaches to work research

33. Questions

34. References Anker, R., Chernyshev, I., Egger, P., Mehran, F. and Ritter, J. (2003). “Measuring Decent Work with Statistical Indicators.”International Labour Review 142: 147–77. Bagolin, I. Porsse, M. and Comim, F. (2004) “Adaptive preferences: a Problem or a Good Guide?” University of Pavia Working Paper [Online] Dejours, C. (2012). “From Psychopathology to Psychodynamics of Work.” In New Philosophies of Labour: Work and the Social Bond, ed. N. Smith and J.-P. Deranty, 209–50. Leiden: Brill. Deranty, J.P. and MacMillan, C. (2012). “The ILO’s Decent Work Initiative: Suggestions for an Extension of the Notion of ‘Decent Work’.” Journal of Social Philosophy 43(4): 386-405 Ghai, D. (2003). “Decent Work: Concept and Indicators.” International Labour Review 142: 113–45. Hennink, M., Hutter, I. and Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative Research Methods. Sage: London ILO (1999). Report of the Director-General: Decent work. International Labour Conference, 87th Session, Geneva. Rodgers, G. (2008) “The Goal of Decent Work.” IDS Bulletin 39(2): 63-68 Sen, A. (2000). “Work and Rights.” International Labour Review 139: 119–28.

35. Social and environmental conversion factors • (social norms, power relations, market forces, etc.) • Work features • (income, fringe benefits, work hours, autonomy, skill development etc.) • Individual conversion factors • (priorities, motivation, health etc.) • Capabilities • (capability to good bodily health, to housing etc.) • Achieved functioning • (health, security, standard of living, leisure, etc.) 1.3 Work and Capabilities • Sen on ‘entitlement exchange’ (1981)

36. Four strategic objectives of the Decent Work agenda: • Creating Jobs– an economy that generates opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship, skills development, job creation and sustainable livelihoods. • Guaranteeing rights at work– to obtain recognition and respect for the rights of workers. All workers, and in particular disadvantaged or poor workers, need representation, participation, and laws that work for their interests. • Extending social protection– to promote both inclusion and productivity by ensuring that women and men enjoy working conditions that are safe, allow adequate free time and rest, take into account family and social values, provide for adequate compensation in case of lost or reduced income and permit access to adequate healthcare. • Promoting social dialogue– Involving strong and independent workers’ and employers' organizations is central to increasing productivity, avoiding disputes at work, and building cohesive societies. • (ILO website, 2013)

37. Research Questions • How is ‚good work‘ perceived by working groups in Uganda, Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka? • What features of ‘good work’ are identified by the groups? • What features of ‘good work’ are seen to be most important across the working groups, and which least important? • What connections are drawn between different features of good work? • How and to what extent do the identified features of ‘good work’ differ to universal standards of work, such as those established by the ILO? • What differences in the perception of ‘good work’ exist between different occupational groups and countries? • What implications can be drawn with respect to universal standards of work and the measurement of ‘good work’?

38. International Labour Review 142 (2003) • Special Issue: ‘Measuring Decent Work’ Six dimensions of the DW agenda • 3. Productive work • 4. Equity in work • 5. Security at work • 6. Dignity at work • Anker et. al 2003 • Opportunities for work • 2. Work in conditions of freedom

40. ILO’s 11 elements of ‘decent work’ Employment opportunities Adequate earnings & productive work Decent working time Combining work, family & personal life Work that should be abolished Stability & security of work Equal opportunity & treatment in employment Safe work environment Social security Social dialogue, workers’ & employers’ representation Economic and social context for decent work

41. “There is a misconception here in Uganda; we are looking at Social Security only for people who are engaged in formal employment So we are trying to advocate as Trade Unions [to] move from social security to social protection so that it covers those who are in the informal sector.” FGD 9 participant 5

42. Profession / Informal sector More customer-facing: relations are key Bad knowledge of formal rights Infrastructure (electricity, toilets, rubbish, space!) Here in Uganda, things are not easy. There is a time when electricity disappears completely and nobody seemed to care. We could use candles but nobody compensated us. We spent days without any light. And yet customers wanted their clothes. Candles can easily burn the clothes. ‘v’, Tailor FGD