Employmentweb_low

EmpLoymEnT, work, And HEALTH inEquALiTiES - a global perspective
firms, most of which are home-based or family-owned enterprises. In
this case, workers are mostly family members or relatives, and the
overlap of capital and labour functions are common (Portes et al., 1989;
Daza, 2005). The major problem is that this lack of statutory regulation
means that there is no way to ensure the protection of working
conditions, wages, or acceptable levels of occupational health and safety.
Workers having informal jobs are disadvantaged compared to
formally-hired workers in several aspects that separately or
together affect their health and safety. The most important factor is
poverty, since several studies show that firms in the informal
economy usually have low profits and informal workers have lower
salaries than those in formal firms. Wages are a large component of
family income and therefore the informal jobs are important
determinants of consumption patterns. Small business owners, on
the other hand, do not fare worse than their formal counterparts.
also, informal employment affects the family, as children of women
working as street vendors who accompanied their mothers,
compared to the general population, have an increased prevalence
of acute diseases (38.0% vs. 27.3%) and injuries (5.8% vs. 3.6%).
Since firms in the informal economy are unregistered and out of state
control, working conditions, which are largely dependent on the
reinforcement of workers’ health and safety laws and regulation by the
state, are worse than in formal firms. large formal enterprises may keep
part of their workers illegally unregistered, with only a verbal
employment arrangement. Formal firms may keep informallyemployed
individuals in the most dangerous activities in order to
avoid fines resulting from occupational injuries or diseases, or to
reduce expenses from labour-related taxes, to have more flexibility
for hiring and firing, or keep payments under the legal minimum
wages (IlO, 2006). Occupational hazards are common. For instance,
awkward postures and exposure to toxic chemicals, excessive
noise, poor sanitation, high workload, pesticides, violence and
push-bicycle in the streets of Hue (Vietnam). sexual assault (Iriart et al., 2006) are commonly observed in
source: © ilo/p. deloche (2002)
informal economy settings. as a result, a high proportion of
occupational injuries and diseases among informal workers have been
reported in several studies. Informal workers reported receiving less
training and supervision than formal workers and limited access to
protective equipment. Other factors associated with the informal
economy and informal jobs are a low standard of housing and sanitation
and inappropriate management of waste or toxic substances that can
affect the environment and health. The scientific literature on
occupational health and the informal economy is scarce and most studies
are descriptive, a fact which limits the generalisation of results (Da Silva,
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