Income generation, informality and poverty in urban Turkey

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the key sources of poor urban households' relative success (or failure) in reducing poverty by income generation activities. The data is drawn from interviews with 17 low-income households randomly selected from an informal gecekondu settlement located in the periphery of the Turkish capital. Contrary to the dominant viewpoint, which attributes success to having fewer dependants or more resources, it is shown here that success depends more on the benefit delivery capacity of resources accessible to the households and this depends largely on wider structural factors. Informal employment is found to constitute one key structural factor, which limits households' chances of success to a greater extent than formal employment not only through condemning them to low pay but also through imposing more restrictions upon their access to state welfare.

Evaluating working conditions in the informal economy: Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey

“…And sixth and finally, the job prospects of informal employees are viewed as poorer than formal employees in terms of career prospects, job security and the solvency of the businesses in which they are employed (Barsoum, 2015; Eroglu, 2017; Ferreira, 2016; La Porta and Shleifer, 2014; Sasaki et al, 2016; Scott, 2017).…”

Decent work and subjective well-being in Mexico

“…However, Cannas et al (2019) addressed it in a similar way, they mention that European employees with better working conditions tend to have a higher level of SWB. Finally, for the variable informality, which represents the percentage of the employed population in a region that does not have access to social benefits and labour guarantees provided by law (Barsoum, 2015;Ero glu, 2017;Webb et al, 2020), no study was identified that relates this variable to SWB. However, Cerci and Dumludag (2019) identified a positive relationship between subjective job security and SWB, which could be one of the multiple aspects studied in the informality variable (Thwala et al, 2023).…”

Female Entrepreneurship and Informality in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: What Have We Learned So Far?

“…In a dualist debate in which informality is a choice or an obligation, 5 and with compelling evidence about the existence of a causal link between informality and poverty (Webster et al 2016;Eroğlu 2017;Canelas 2019), this raises the question of why people would choose to be poor. Therefore, more recent studies explain the informal sector as a heterogenous structure, in which informality can be an opportunity for some at a specific time, while for others it is a strategy of last resort (Günther and Launov 2012;Harati 2013;Canelas 2019).…”