Instead of many large firms with salaried staff, Africa has lots of micro-enterprises and informal workers. More than 80% of employment in Africa is informal, according to the International Labour Organisation. Roughly half of informal workers in cities are self-employed, doing everything from crafting Instagram advertising to fixing roofs. Many Africans mix formal work with informal hustles, which are often poorly paid. Most would love a steady job. Mr Tadepalli suggests that many of the “self-employed” may just be the unemployed “in disguise”
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Karthik’s quotes and research directly referred to in the article itself! Nice work Karthik and great to see your work get recognised in the mainstream as well as on the neglected global development corners of the EA forum ;).
While reading the economist yesterday, an article in their fantastic “The Africa gap” series felt strangely familiar—I’d read these ideas last year in @Karthik Tadepalli’s fantastic series on economic growth in LMIC’s. I appreciated this section
Instead of many large firms with salaried staff, Africa has lots of micro-enterprises and informal workers. More than 80% of employment in Africa is informal, according to the International Labour Organisation. Roughly half of informal workers in cities are self-employed, doing everything from crafting Instagram advertising to fixing roofs. Many Africans mix formal work with informal hustles, which are often poorly paid. Most would love a steady job. Mr Tadepalli suggests that many of the “self-employed” may just be the unemployed “in disguise”
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Karthik’s quotes and research directly referred to in the article itself! Nice work Karthik and great to see your work get recognised in the mainstream as well as on the neglected global development corners of the EA forum ;).