FIRST MEETING OF THE EXPERT GROUP  

Summary and Conclusions

 

    After detailed discussions, the following conclusions were drawn.

  1. The recommendations made by the UNSD/ILO ESCAP Workshop on Statistics of the Informal Sector held at Bangkok during 12-16 May 1997 were endorsed by the participants. They also agreed to the agenda suggested for the Delhi Group by the Workshop which shall be duly included in future plan of action of the Delhi Group The recommendation on rotation of venues of meetings of the Delhi Group among member countries as well as that of seeking financial and or technical assistance from donors and Internationals agencies were appreciated. The Delhi Group agreed to make efforts to seek representation of countries from all regions of the world, particularly those from Africa and the former Soviet Union.
  2. The Delhi Group will make efforts to delineate various criteria like (a) employment size; (b) non-registration; (c) lack of accounts, etc., which are commonly used by countries to identify the informal sector and which are part of the international definition
  3. Another issue the Group identified was the need to assess the seasonal variations that normally vitiate the results of the informal sector statistics by its very nature.
  4. Efforts should be made to develop a minimum data set for use of its members in facilitating international comparability that meets the requirements of analytical issues besides those of the national accounts.
  5. Papers contributed in various international and regional forums, workshops, conferences etc. held earlier on the subject of the informal sector statistics as well as reports of such meetings should be considered by the Delhi Group and issues / recommendations covered there in should be documented.
  6. Further, it was suggested that the Delhi Group might identify important issues from the above document for its detailed consideration.
  7. Currently, two types of surveys namely industry specific surveys and informal sector surveys covering all relevant industries are being undertaken to collect data on the Informal sector The Delhi Group may study these options keeping in view the measurement objectives and the data needs.
  8. The participants suggested that the desirability and feasibility of including agriculture professional services paid domestic services outwork homework etc. in the scope of the informal sector should be discussed by the group, within the context of the fifteenth ICLS Resolution and SNA/93.
  9. To minimize the obsolescence of the sampling frame, measures to reduce the time gap between the listing stage and detail canvassing stage of informal sector surveys should be developed.
    10.


    It was suggested that micro level studies on different sectors of Informal Sector activities should also be undertaken to have a first hand knowledge and in-depth understanding of the characteristics guiding the informal sector.