The EU-funded MEDSTAT project is organising a workshop for southern Mediterranean partners on statistics around the issue of informal work, an issue that affects a large proportion of the working population in the region.

The workshop will take place in Paris on 10-12 July.

According to the International Labour Organisation, informal employment, “most often means poor employment conditions and is associated with increasing poverty”, due to lack of protection in the event of non-payment of wages, compulsory overtime, lay-offs without notice or compensation, unsafe working conditions and the absence of social benefits.

The measurement of informal work and the economic impact of informal sector is of a high interest worldwide but faces difficulties because of definitions that are not totally harmonized and data collection processes following different modalities and at a high cost. Statistics on informal work are only partially addressed in the region, and many partner countries are keen to learn more on methodologies and practices for producing statistics on informal employment.

The regional workshop aims to answer this request. It will be an opportunity to share and to discuss the conceptual frameworks relevant for statistics on informal work and the sources, the methods and the indicators adopted to that effect. A special focus will be given to the use that can be made of these statistics for measuring the impact of informal work on the national economies through the System of National Accounts (SNAs).

The MEDSTAT IV project provides expertise and technical support to promote the harmonisation of statistics in line with EU and international standards in 6 domains: business register and business, trade and balance of payments, energy, labour market, migration and transport. It follows on the previous phase implemented over the period 2010-2013.

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Press release

MEDSTAT IV website