Seven in 10 workers have small businesses-Study
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed that seven in 10 workers are self-employed or in small businesses.
The new ILO estimates showed that self-employment, micro and small enterprises play afar a more important role in providing jobs than previously believed.
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The Data, gathered in 99 countries, found that the so-called ‘small economic units’ together account for 70 per cent of total employment, making them by far the most important drivers of employment.
The findings have “highly relevant” implications for policies and programmes on job creation, job quality, start-ups, enterprise productivity and job formalisation, which, the report says, need to focus more on these small economic units.
The study also found that an average of 62 per cent of employment in these 99 countries is in the informal sector, where working conditions, in general, tend to be inferior, (i.e. a lack of social security, lower wages, poor occupational safety and health and weaker industrial relations).
The informality level varies widely, ranging from more than 90 per cent in Benin, Cote d’Ivoire and Madagascar to less than five per cent in Austria, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam and Switzerland.
The information is published in a new ILO report, Small matters: Global evidence on the contribution to employment by the self-employed, micro-enterprises and SMEs.
The report finds that in high-income countries, 58 per cent of total employment is in small economic units, while in low and middle-income countries, the proportion is considerably higher.
In countries with the lowest income levels, the proportion of employment in small economic units are almost 100 per cent, the report says.
ILO estimates draw on national household and labour force surveys gathered in all regions except North America, rather than using the more traditional source of enterprise surveys that tend to have more limited scope.
