Who walks the walk ?

Now that our understanding of the informal sector is widening from previous posts we will look into who is actually found in the informal sector and reasons why. Before you read any further I would like you pause and think of the vendors and wares persons that you pass by in urban areas. Try to see if you could come up with any trends or similarities.

THINK TIME.

Now the image you may have conceptualized may be a blurry one and that is the case in reality. Due to the nature of the informal sector it is difficult to get statistics on it. This is because the it is not managed or traced by the government and there is still no global unison as to what exactly compromises it. While taking this into consideration the ILO report on women and men in the informal economy states that informal employment is generally a larger source of employment for women than for men (ILO 2002).  Now look at the picture below

This image depicts an elderly woman selling oranges right outside of HILO supermarket in Curepe. I think that this is a brilliant idea as she could get a potential sale from both the supermarket customers and the general people passing by on the street. Aside from her strategic location another thing that you would notice is that the woman is elderly and could possibly be collecting pension. Another thing to note about the members of the informal sector is that they posses little to no educational qualifications and that they only require simple tools (UN Habitat 2009). Now within Trinidad not all persons in our informal sector confirm to these trends. I remember speaking to some CD vendors who said they had secondary education and could get a 9-5 job but prefer to sell on the streets because they make more money doing so.

Academic findings are one thing but the stores we hear on the actual ground from these vendors truly reveal the reasons why they are in it. Whether it is because they can't find employment elsewhere or they see it as a business to maximize on profit with little cost. There are two sides to the coin in general and sometimes it gets difficult to tell the difference.

check this link for more information on women int the informal sector
http://wiego.org/

Refrences:

International Labour Organization. 2002. Women and Men in The informal Economy: A statistical picture. Geneva

United Nations Settlement Program. 2009.State of the World's Cities 2010/11: Cities for All: Bridging the Urban Divide.Micheal Jones Software. Nairobi