jueves, 14 de febrero de 2013

Another take on "informal" employment...

INEGI publishes a quarterly analysis of unemployment in Mexico. Since 2005, INEGI has been publishing statistics on the percentage of the economically active population (PEA, in Spanish) employed in the informal economy. That percentage ranged between 27% and 29%.

The figures for the fourth quarter of 2012 present a different take on employment in the informal economy, an approach officially published by the International Labor Organization (OIT, in Spanish) on October 31, 2012. The new methodology, adopted in December by INEGI, includes categories of workers who weren't counted in the existing measure of employment in the informal economy. The new definition counts household help, "non-protected" agricultural workers, and employees working in formal businesses who weren't registered in the Social Security Institute (IMSS).

So, what's the percentage of people employed in the informal economy? The old methodology says 27.9% of the working age population in the fourth quarter of 2012. Under the new methodology, the percentage is more than doubled - to 59.9%. Definitions matter.  

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