The informal economy was growing at an alarming rate across the world with more than half the workforce being in the sector, a conference was told in Cape Town today (September 9).
Jason Heyes, an academic from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, speaking about training toolkit for labour inspectors working with informal companies and workers, said information sharing and experience sharing can be effective tools in handling the informal economy.
The academic was speaking in Cape Town today at the Strand Tower Hotel, where the Department of Labour and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) were hosting a conference focusing on bringing on board the informal economy in the area of compliance with labour laws including health and safety regulations.
Heyes said according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 90 percent of workers in India are in the informal economy, whereas the figure for South Africa stood at 33 percent.
“Informal sector workers working conditions are characterised by lack of written employment contracts and unemployment insurance fund benefits,” he said.
Heyes felt the principle of decent work as espoused by ILO should be extended to the informal economy.
Haroon Bhorat, as academic from the University of Cape Town, who focused on compliance with labour laws in the informal economy, said the role of the Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) in South Africa was not to focus on informal enterprises per se, but rather on the nature of the employer-employee relationship in any firm.
Put differently, Bhorat said a labour inspection has the mandate to inspect the extent to which an employer’s business was registered or paying taxes. Instead their focus is on whether the employee is, through the firm or employer, adhering to the relevant legislative requirements for his employment, Bhorat said.
Among those who attended the conference was Thobile Lamati, the Director General of Department of Labour.
Enquiries:
Mokgadi Pela
Cell: 082 808 2168
