Measure and analysis of the Informal Employment in El Salvador: challenges in the context of COVID-19

Authors

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges in El Salvador is to measure accurately the proportion of informal workers, because they lack, legally and in practice, of representation through formal mechanisms. Using the Household Survey for Multiple Purposes (HSMP), this paper aims to measure informal employment in El Salvador, which will enable a better characterization of the informal workforce and their vulnerabilities. According to our results, in 2019, 74.1 % of the current Salvadoran workforce were informal workers. With this measure, it was possible to identify the probability of having a formal job in El Salvador. On average, a Salvadoran in the labor market has a probability below 8.0 % of having a quality job. The probability of having a formal job is significantly affected by gender inequalities, educational level, job experience, age, and territoriality. This represents a challenge in designing and implementing public policies that aim to protect these workers, not to mention the impact that COVID-19 will have on the well-being of the population.

Keywords:

Informal Employment, COVID-19, public policies