Informal workplaces and their comparative effects on the health of street vendors and home-based garment workers in Yangon, Myanmar: a qualitative study

Abstract

Background: Globally, two billion workers are employed informally but there is limited research on the relationship between informal work and health. Existing studies have focused on informality as an employment condition, with little emphasis on the diversity of physical and social contexts in which informal work takes place. The study considers the diversity of informal workplaces and explores the ways in which this diversity might influence health and well-being of two informal occupational groups in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar. Methods: We conducted 21 field observations and 47 semi-structured interviews with street vendors and homebased garment workers based in Yangon, Myanmar. A constant comparative method was used to identify and compare how the physical characteristics of their informal workplaces affect their health for these two informal subgroups. Results: Although both street vendors and home-based garment workers work informally, their exposure to occupational health and income risks are specific to the physical features of their informal workplaces. Street vendors, who work in public spaces with minimal coverage, are more likely to experience the direct effects of outdoor pollution, inclement weather and ergonomic risks from lifting, carrying and transporting heavy merchandise while home-based garment workers, many of whom live and work in unsanitary housing and deprived neighborhoods, are more likely to experience pollution in or near their homes, and ergonomic risks from poor posture. Similarly, although both groups face safety challenges, street vendors face urban violence and abuse during their commute and at vending points whereas home-based garment workers felt unsafe in their homebased workplaces due to the presence of crime and violence in their neighborhoods.

Strengthening Urban Informal Trading and Improving the Health of Vendors: An Integrated Management Model

“…The results of the current study showed that the efforts to improve the health of informal workers should consider the contexts in which they work in order to develop tailored interventions for specific subpopulations of informal workers [ 25 ]. The results of this study showed that the work environment and lack of infrastructure are associated with ill health, and the interventions in responding to the findings were integrated within the proposed model.…”

Menata Kelola Kelembagaan PKL Berdasarkan Hubungan Antar Stakeholder

“…PKL pada dasarnya merupakan kegiatan usaha sektor informal, sehingga keberadaannya berada diluar sistem perencanaan perkotaan yang umum. Posisi tersebut menjadikan keberadaan PKL pada umumnya tidak tertata, tidak higienis, tidak aestetik, dan rawan premanisme (Ko Ko Et Al., 2020). Sebagai akibatnya pemerintah kota DKI jakarta menjadi terpaksa harus melakukan penertiban sebagai jalan untuk mengembalikan fungsi ruang-ruang publik tersebut kepada fungsi awalnya (Rahardyan,Aziz & Fitriani, 2019).…”

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“…Informal vendors frequently operate from outdoor or street locations without a formal building structure, including tents, cartons, or mobile food trailers. These vendors conduct their business in public areas close to downtown streets, marketplaces, or parks (such as a storefront, a sidewalk, a roadside, or pavement) [6]. Some informal vendors, however, operate markets in discrete locations within an enclosed permanent brick structure.…”

“…Some informal vendors, however, operate markets in discrete locations within an enclosed permanent brick structure. These vendors may operate in semi-public spaces, such as inside market buildings and public transportation stations [6], as well as train stations, taxi ranks, and other public places. The burden of disease associated with environmental exposures disproportionately impacts outdoor vendors in big cities all over the world.…”