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uncertainty as to the existence of an employmentrelationship (workers in the informal economy, forexample). 61ConclusionsThis review of development strategies and ofinternational labour standard setting showsthat there is a growing political understandingof the fundamental importance of employmentand work conditions for the fight against poverty.It also shows that there is a new departure inthe international community regarding labourrights and that work in the informal economynow is addressed. The three elements of this newdeparture — Fundamental Principles and Rightsat Work, the Decent Work Agenda and the rightsin the informal economy — are now supported bya broad coalition of governments, internationalorganisations, trade unions and employers andnon-governmental organisations.5. The economics ofinformality and the debateon Labour RegulationsThere is now a broad recognition of a decent workdeficit in the global labour market - from the absenceof social protection to the absence of basicrights at work. A key economic indicator of thatdeficit, as explained by the ILO World Employmentreport of 2004/2005, is whether men andwomen can earn enough from their work to liftthemselves and their families out of poverty. Forthe estimated 500 million working poor who livein households with daily incomes of less thanUS$1 per capita, the answer is ‘no’. In their case,it is not the absence of economic activity that isthe source of their poverty, but the nature of theireconomic activities. The link between work of lowquality or productivity and poverty is starkly clear:if people were able to earn more from their work,then poverty would decline. Thus, it is not justany work per se which can raise individuals out ofpoverty; but rather productive and decent work.Taking this view as point of departure, the purposeof this section is to provide a brief overviewof the role of labour regulations in economic performance.We examine, firstly, some broad crosscountryevidence about the impact of labourregulations on growth and employment, makingreferences to a number of individual countrystudies. We then proceed to what we would argueis an important addendum to reinterpretingprior assumptions regarding the nature, role andimpact of labour market regulations for the workingpoor of the world. Our recommendations arepresented at the end of this section.157