Defining and Measuring Informality: The Case of Turkish Labor Market

Abstract

In this study, we consider how informality can be defined and measured in the Turkish labor market. The empirical analysis consists of developing three alternative definitions of labor informality, and exploring the relevance and implications of each for the Turkish labor market using descriptive statistics and multivariate probit analysis of the likelihood of informality under each definition. We find that social security registration criterion is a better measure of informality in the Turkish labor market given its ability to capture key relationships between several individual and employment characteristics and the likelihood of informality.

Sectoral Estimates of Informality: A New Method and Application for the Turkish Economy

“…Such a policy design might manifest itself as an increase in toleration for at least some informal economic activities or should at least take into account how a reduction 5 See Elgin (2012) for other estimates of informal sector size for the Turkish economy from the existing literature on the Turkish economy. 6 Tansel (1999Tansel ( , 2001, Savasan and Schneider (2006), Taymaz (2009), Tansel and Kan (2012a, 2012b, Acar and Tansel (2014), and Balkan and Tümen (2014) are among the examples. 7 Maloney (1999), Pisani and Pagán (2004), Bucheli and Ceni (2010), Kaplan, Piedra, and Seira (2011), and more recently, Cantekin and Elgin (2017), are among the examples.…”

“…Tansel (, ), Savasan and Schneider (), Taymaz (), Tansel and Kan (, ), Acar and Tansel (), and Balkan and Tümen () are among the examples.…”

Navigating Wait Space in Uncertain Times: Young Women and Precarious Labour in Turkey

“…In periods of crisis, as was the case after 2008, this entails greater demands on women’s time spent in unpaid work in the home and low wages in the informal workspace. Informal sectors offer women opportunities to become more financially secure and provides “flexibility” with managing the rising responsibilities in the home and communities, but its exploitative nature can be obscured because they take place in the household, where the distinction between paid work and life can be quite blurred (Acar and Tansel 2014; Dedeoğlu 2010; Kaya‐Bahce and Memis 2013; Toksöz and Memiş 2020). Especially for young women in Turkey without access to formal employment, home increasingly functions as a wait space that offers both shelter and opportunities to engage in a variety of forms of life‐work.…”

Does it Matter to be Informal? Type of employment and political opinions in the MENA region

“…Not having a contract as a wage worker means not being able to benefit from social security benefits and at best little protection by the legal framework. There are several researchers who also adopt the same definition of informal employment and categorize workers according to their registration into social security and legal protections offered by contractual relations (Acar and Tansel, 2016;Hussmanns, 2005). Selfemployed is also included as an additional measure of informality for robustness checks iv .…”