REPORT OF THE TENTH MEETING OF THE
EXPERT GROUP ON INFORMAL
SECTOR STATISTICS (DELHI GROUP)
8-10 October, 2007
|
Organized by:
International
Labour Organisation,
Geneva
|
Secretariat:
Central Statistical Organisation,
Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation
Government of India
New Delhi
|
Contents
REPORT OF THE TENTH MEETING OF THE
EXPERT GROUP ON INFORMAL SECTOR STATISTICS (DELHI GROUP)
International Labour
Organisation, Geneva
8-10 October, 2007
………
1. Organization
of the Meeting
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1.1 The
Tenth Meeting of the Expert Group on Informal Sector Statistics (Delhi Group)
was organized and hosted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva during 8-10
October, 2007.
2. Participation
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2.2 The
meeting was attended by 26 representatives from the countries of Brazil, Chile,
China, Fiji, France, India, Mexico, Namibia, Tanzania and Turkey, the
international organistions of International Labour Organisation (ILO), United
Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), ‘Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing
and Organizing (WIEGO), Gujarat Institute of Development Research (GIDR),
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Institut de recherche pour le
développement (IRD), France and Mrs. Carol Carson, (SNA update, Project
manager). The list of participants is at
Annex-I.
3. Agenda
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3.1 The
agenda adopted for the meeting consisted of an inaugural session and
discussions on the following items:
(i)
Inaugural Session
(ii)
Manual on Surveys of Informal Employment and Informal Sector :
Progress Report
(iii)
Discussions on draft Chapters 1 to 5 and 10 of Manual on Surveys of
Informal Employment and Informal Sector
·
Chapter 1 :
Introduction
·
Chapter 2 : Concepts, Definitions And
Sub-Classification
·
Chapter 3: Measurement Objectives and data
collection Strategies
·
Chapter 4 :
Household Surveys on informal Sector Employment and other types of Informal
Employment
·
Chapter 5 : Informal
Sector Establishment Surveys
·
Chapter 10 : Use of
Data for the preparation of National Accounts: Labour Input matrices and the
Production Approach
(iv)
Draft Chapter 24 of SNA Rev.1 on The Informal Sector
(v)
Alternate aggregation for informal sector in ISIC Rev.4
4. Summary of the deliberations and
recommendations
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4.1 There were extensive deliberations on the
draft Chapters 1 to 5 and 10 of the Manual on Surveys of Informal Employment
and Informal Sector, which is one of the deliverable outputs of the Delhi Group
in association with the ILO. The
preliminary draft Chapter 24 of the 1993 SNA Rev.1 on The Informal Sector along
with the background note from the UNSD and the Project Manager of SNA Rev.1 was
also discussed at length. Besides these
agenda papers, a paper prepared on “Alternate Aggregation for the Informal
Sector in ISIC Rev.4” was also presented.
The purpose of this paper was to suggest an alternative aggregation of
ISIC levels to suit the specialised needs and characteristics of economic activities
carried out in informal sector.
4.2 The participants, while approving the
broad outlines of the draft Chapters and other agenda papers, suggested some
changes in terms of their content and structure. The recommendations of the Delhi Group on these
deliberations are given below as the recommendations of 10th Delhi
Group meeting.
4.3 The team of contributors who are drafting
the Manual on Surveys of Informal Employment and Informal Sector will suitably
revise the draft chapters considered in the 10th meeting of
the Delhi Group by March, 2008. The
other 4 Chapters of the Manual, namely, Chapters 6 to 9 will be drafted by
June, 2008, and the complete Manual will be placed before the 11th
meeting of the Delhi Group, scheduled to be held thereafter in Kolkata.
4.4 The Delhi Group will submit a report to
the UN Statistical Commission, about the recent developments and on the
progress of preparation of the activities of Manual on Surveys of Informal
Employment and Informal Sector.
5. Recommendations of the 10th
Meeting of the Delhi Group
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5.1 The following
recommendations were made on the various agenda items:
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Revisions should include:
1.
A careful review and correction of concepts to
ensure accuracy and consistency across the chapters;
2.
Statements concerning the role of the manual in
producing data on production of the informal sector (in addition to the role of
the manual in producing data on employment);
3.
Strengthen the discussion of the role of data on
informal sector/ informal employment in national statistical systems.
Chapter 2 :
Concepts, Definitions and Sub-Classification
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4.
The revisions should include:
·
Combining Sections 2.1 and 3.1
·
Changing the title of the Chapter
·
Incorporating Section 7 and the Annexes in the body
of the Chapter
·
Indicating the relationship between the concepts
of informal employment and “(non-) decent work”
·
A number of editorial changes in the text
5.
The meeting suggested that concepts and
definitions other than those defined by the ICLS should be addressed in
Chapters 3 and 9;
6.
The meeting agreed that Sections 2.2.3, 5 and 6
should be maintained.
Chapter 3: Measurement Objectives and
data collection Strategies
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7.
Along with the measurement objectives, items of
data needed to meet those objectives should be listed;
8.
Keeping in view the space requirements in the
Chapter, material on FIRST methodology on establishment surveys may be
shortened;
9.
Stressing on the most important advantages,
limitations and complementarities of different data collection strategies,
guidance in the selection of strategies should be provided in a
non-prescriptive manner at the end of the Chapter;
10. Section
headings may be reformulated to indicate clearly that there are three broad
approaches to data collection, namely, household surveys, establishment surveys
and mixed household and enterprise surveys;
11. Tables
1 and 2 to be updated with additional available information.
Chapter 4 : Household Surveys on informal Sector Employment
and
other types of Informal Employment
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12. Additional
text may be included highlighting the complementary nature between the household surveys and
establishments and mixed surveys;
13. To
be explicit on what information / indicators on informal sector employment /
informal employment to be collected by means of a labour force survey. Reinforce texts on their relevance for policy
making;
14. With
regard to table on pages 7-8, comparisons in terms of what is measured, should
be specified;
15. Illustrate
by means of data examples, the differences in estimated employed persons
between LFS and mixed surveys;
16. To
add more on survey and reference periods and their implications;
17. to
transfer to the body and elaborate the text in respect of LSMS surveys;
18. To
balance the chapter laying less stress on national experience and reformulating
it in terms of the information pertinent to the objectives of the chapter;
19. To
explore other national experiences that infer the nature of the economic units
by specific questions addressed to employees.
Chapter 5 : Informal Sector Establishment Surveys
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20. Structure
of chapter 4 may be adopted while revising chapter 5, to the extent possible;
21. Examples
of countries other than India
should figure more in the chapter, although India has been recognized as a good
example. Material in this context may be
collected and used;
22. Indian
experience in evolution of survey design of household enterprises and
unorganized sector enterprises, stressing on improvements may be briefly traced;
23. Empirical
analysis of differences in estimates on informal sector and informal employment
obtained from 55th round (1999-2000) and 56th and 57th rounds on unorganised
sector surveys may be included;
24. Listing
experiences in economic censuses and surveys in India may be traced with
improvements brought-in over time, may be described;
25. The
paras on existing international recommendations on establishment censuses and
surveys may be revised taking into account latest developments, even if they
exist in draft form. UNSD is requested
to supply the relevant material.
Alternate aggregation for informal sector in ISIC Rev.4
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26. The
Group noted that the alternate ISIC aggregation is not to define the informal
sector. Keeping in view the objective
and purpose of alternate aggregation, it is recommended that the title may be
revised as “Alternate ISIC 4 aggregations for analysis and reporting of
Informal Sector Statistics”;
27. The
proposed alternate aggregation as proposed by UNSD is well appreciated by the
Group and is recommended with following modifications:
(a) In
category IVa, in the Title “(other than via mail order houses and Internet)”
may be deleted;
(b) ISIC
division 94 may be shifted from Category VIII to XI;
(c) One
additional sub-classification may be included under category VII for ISIC
classes 5610 and 5621.
Draft
Chapter of SNA Rev.1 on informal sector
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The
Delhi Group:
28. Expressed
general support for the draft of the Chapter;
29. Advised that the Chapter should specify the data
items needed to provide coverage of informal sector enterprises in a national
accounts framework. Further, advised
that these data items should be the items in the production and generation of
income accounts;
30. Indicated
that the description of informal employment in the Chapter is adequate. Furthermore, recommended that the Chapter
advise its presentation in a satellite framework as suggested by the Delhi
Group in its 9th meeting;
31. Noted
that the present section on the informal sector’s scope and characteristics
should be developed to indicate what national accounts seek to capture and how
that is linked to ICLS concepts of informal sector;
32. Proposed
that the text on terminology be extended to first present the commonalities
between the 15th ICLS on employment in the informal sector and the SNA in terms
of their scope and characteristics;
33. Advised
that in the description of three
measurement approaches, a reference be made to the ILO Manual On Informal
Sector and Informal Employment. Further,
indicated that the complementarities and benefits of the related data sets for
national accounts compilation should be presented and that a description of the
labour input matrix for calibration and validation purpose should be added;
34. Suggested
that section E 3 may be redrafted in a positive tone and expanded, highlighting
the contribution of the data set on the informal sector for national accounts
compilation.
Chapter 10 : Use of Data for the preparation of National
Accounts:
Labour Input matrices and the Production
Approach
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The Chapter should clearly
outline the objectives in the beginning regarding:
35. Achievement
of exhaustiveness of GDP in the national accounts, in particular for the
informal sector;
36. Create
production and income generation accounts for informal sector and possibly in a
satellite framework on informal employment;
37. The
use of the labour input matrices should be complemented by examples (India,
Mexico, and Tunisia) showing how value added per worker has been compiled for
and assigned to various components of employment, to obtain a more exhaustive
measure of GDP;
38. Complementary
use of sources for balancing and reconciliation of supply and use tables should
be elaborated;
39.
Pros and cons of building LI matrices from one
source (LFS) or from various sources may be elaborate.