perceptions of ‘good work’ in the informal urban economy: evidence from burkina faso, uganda and...
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Perceptions of ‘Good Work’ in the Informal Urban Economy: Evidence from Burkina Faso, Uganda and Sri Lanka
Will Monteith & Lena Giesbert
EADI, Bonn: 26 June 2014
GIGA / KfW Project:
‘Employment, empowerment and living standards’
Quality of work
Fundamental to autonomy, self-respect and human flourishing
(Sen 1993)
Sarkozy Commission, ILO’s ‘decent work’ initiative
Structural: control of the means of production
Market-based: the concept of compensating differentials
(Marx 1967)
(Smith 1996)
Empirical literature: US & EU focus
Approach Typical dimensions Typical sub-dimensions
Economic - Economic compensation- Fringe benefits
- Hourly wage- Working hours- Insurances- Pension
Sociological - Personal outcomes- Opportunities
- Skills involved- Diversity of tasks- Opportunities for learning- Scope for using initiative- Prestige
Psychological - Relationships at work- Personal satisfaction
- Quality of relationships- Trust- Job satisfaction- Meaningful work- Challenging work
The ILO’s ‘decent work’ initiative
4 dimensions: Fundamental rights at work Employment conditions Social protection Social dialogue
“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”
ILO 1999
Quality of work as a multidimensional concept
“There is a need to collect data and information relating to decent work characteristics for workers in non- formal employment” !! Ghai 2003: 144
“‘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
Critiques
Work and the informal sector
“Informal jobs can also be transformational”
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
World Development Report 2013: Jobs
From a ‘black hole’ to an ‘entrepreneurial’ factory: the informal sector is here to stay!
Micro-economic literature: entrepreneurship
Socio-political literature:
30-40% of employment in the developing world Becker 2004
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
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:
Luebker 2008
- Low income, long working hours, poor political representation
“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
Work and Capabilities
Sen on ‘entitlement exchange’ (1981)
Features of work Capabilities Achieved functionings
Social & environmental conversion factors
Individual conversion factors
After: Robeyns 2005
Methodology
- 13 FGDs in total (Ouaga, Kampala & Colombo) in 2012 with informal employment groups & associations - Guidelines
- 2-stage approach to qualitative analysis (Saldana 2013)
Results
Avg. ranking Feature of good work
1 Income
2 Health services / protection measures
=3 Personal health
=3 Fundamental rights
4 Trust at work
5 Availability of work
=6 Security at work
=6 Independence / personal freedom
=7 Work-family balance
=7 Opportunities for training / education
“Considering your own work and the work of others, what do you think makes work good work?”
Results
Avg. ranking Feature of good work
1 Income
2 Health services / protection measures
=3 Personal health
=3 Fundamental rights
4 Trust at work
5 Availability of work
=6 Security at work
=6 Independence / personal freedom
=7 Work-family balance
=7 Opportunities for training / education
Economic dimensions
Results
Avg. ranking Feature of good work
1 Income
2 Health services / protection measures
=3 Personal health
=3 Fundamental rights
4 Trust at work
5 Availability of work
=6 Security at work
=6 Independence / personal freedom
=7 Work-family balance
=7 Opportunities for training / education
Social dimensions
Results
Avg. ranking Feature of good work
1 Income
2 Health services / protection measures
=3 Personal health
=3 Fundamental rights
4 Trust at work
5 Availability of work
=6 Security at work
=6 Independence / personal freedom
=7 Work-family balance
=7 Opportunities for training / education
Psychological dimensions
Results
Avg. ranking Feature of good work
11 Trustworthiness
18 Discipline
21 Making use of skills
25 Respect for job
26 Customer care
Significance of non-cognitive skills / modes of behaviour?
Thematic analysis: Income
“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
Personal survival: working to ‘kill hunger’
“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
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
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
Access to health services
Health & safetyat work
Capability to good bodily health
Attainment of good bodily health
Bandages & traditional medicines: access to health services
Trust & relationships
Relationships with customers (trust) - informal contractual system?
“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.”
Relationships with colleagues (solidarity) - informal insurance mechanism?
“Good work does not exist when you are alone”
Burkinabé mechanic
Sri Lankan 3-wheel driver
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.”
“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
Sri Lankan transport worker
Class relations & social norms pertaining to (informal) work
Features of work
Capability to be recognised/respected
Attainment of respect/recognition
Structural position of the informal sector in society (Meagher)
Conclusions
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
Such structural factors are often backgrounded in studies of entrepreneurship and universal frameworks of quality of work
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
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**
END
“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
Why do perceptions matter?
Sampling
“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
“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
Inter-group differences: Gender
•Women prioritise income, men prioritise capital investment (survival/growth delineation)
•Women tend to prioritise health (including psychological support)
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)
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)
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
Questions
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.
1.3 Work and Capabilities
Sen on ‘entitlement exchange’ (1981)
Work features
(income, fringe benefits, work
hours, autonomy, skill development
etc.)
Capabilities
(capability to good bodily health, to
housing etc.)
Achieved functioning
(health, security, standard of
living, leisure, etc.)
Individual conversion
factors
(priorities, motivation, health etc.)
Social and environmental
conversion factors
(social norms, power relations, market
forces, etc.)
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)
Research Questions
How is ‚good work‘ perceived by working groups in Uganda, Burkina Faso and Sri Lanka?
a) What features of ‘good work’ are identified by the groups?
b) What features of ‘good work’ are seen to be most important across the working groups, and which least important?
c) What connections are drawn between different features of good work?
d) 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?
e) What differences in the perception of ‘good work’ exist between different occupational groups and countries?
f) What implications can be drawn with respect to universal standards of work and the measurement of ‘good work’?
Six dimensions of the DW agenda
1. Opportunities for work2. Work in conditions of freedom3. Productive work4. Equity in work5. Security at work6. Dignity at work
Anker et. al 2003
International Labour Review 142 (2003)Special Issue: ‘Measuring Decent Work’
ILO’s 11 elements of ‘decent work’
1. Employment opportunities2. Adequate earnings & productive work3. Decent working time4. Combining work, family & personal life5. Work that should be abolished6. Stability & security of work7. Equal opportunity & treatment in employment8. Safe work environment9. Social security10. Social dialogue, workers’ & employers’ representation11. Economic and social context for decent work
“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
Profession / Informal sector
More customer-facing: relations are keyBad knowledge of formal rightsInfrastructure (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