This message comes from Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing & Organizing (WIEGO)  raising really important “KEY MESSAGES for COVID-19. Please share.

Dear All – WIEGO’s focus, as ever, is on drawing attention to the fact that most of the world’s work is informal and that the assumptions about what policies and advice are best to follow, often don’t apply (or apply differently) to those who work in the informal economy.

Here are the key messages that we are seeking to get out there.

Keep safe everyone – Mike

Key Messages for COVID-19The majority of workers in the world (61 per cent globally and 90 per cent in developing countries) are informal workers who lack labour, legal and social and protection, including access to health insurance and health care.
Informal workers and their families depend on their daily earnings to survive. Their needs cannot be forgotten in this global emergency.
Two billion workers in the world are informally employed. They may be self-employed workers, wage workers, casual day labourers or dependent contractors. They include most construction workers, domestic workers, home-based workers, street vendors, transport workers and waste pickers, as well as most “gig economy” workers.
Nearly half of all workers globally are self-employed and around two-thirds of all workers in developing countries are self-employed. Among informal workers, these percentages are higher still. Most are own account workers and contributing family workers, who are poor on average. Among informal workers, only 3 per cent are employers–the one group that is, on average, not poor.
Self-employment makes up a greater share of women’s employment in the informal economy. Work stoppages and orders to stay home will cause them to lose much needed income while taking on more care responsibilities for family members who are ill or children who are no longer in school.
In normal times, informal workers struggle to meet their basic survival needs. With the spread of COVID-19, measures must be put in place to prevent a social disaster before it’s too late. These measures must be appropriate to the needs of the working poor, not just the middle class.
If stopping work and staying home becomes the only way to keep communities safe, then income replacement measures – such as basic income – from the state will be critical for informal workers and their families to meet the most basic needs. Such measures must go beyond the targeting the very poor and the unemployed and also help the working poor in informal occupations.
In the Global South, where public health systems are weak and informal employment is widespread, governments need to take action now to protect both the health and the income of the most vulnerable populations, including the working poor and their communities.
WIEGO’s research into the impact of economic crises in the informal workforce  has taught us that informal workers have “no cushion to fall back on”. Rather, informal workers tend to bear the brunt of economic and work disruptions. The current crisis is both a public health and economic crisis that will increase the risks for the working poor and their families who do not have adequate access to health insurance and health care in the best of times.
Informal workers at the base of the economic pyramid are at great risk individually during this pandemic. But many informal workers provide essential goods and services needed by the public: Domestic workers double as care workers for children and the elderly.
Street vendors sell essential goods at convenient places and affordable prices and are key actors in ensuring food supply. 
Waste pickers provide essential sanitation and solid waste management services.

These are  front line emergency workers whose contributions during the crisis need to be recognized and supported. 
To find practical and appropriate interventions, national and local governments must work together on a coordinated disaster response plan that involves the grassroots community groups who are at the forefront of the daily struggles experienced by the working poor. Street vendor associations, waste picker cooperatives, domestic workers’ unions and home-based worker networks should be viewed as partners, alongside community groups who work with urban populations of the working poor. 
The corporate sector must do its part to ensure the best outcome for all, putting social needs first and ensuring that resources are distributed in a way that prioritizes people over profit.

Access to healthcare and social protectionInformal workers are considered the “missing middle” in social protection: not poor enough usually to qualify for state assistance such as cash grants, but also not able to access formal social insurance. Extending social protection to informal workers is an essential longer-term intervention.
In the Global South, where public health systems are weak and informal employment is widespread, governments need to take action now to protect the most vulnerable populations, including the working poor, and their communities.
The pandemic brings into sharp relief the need both for quality public care services – including healthcare, childcare and eldercare. The public response to the pandemic presents an opportunity to address the inequities in these services, including by ensuring the very poor and the working poor and their families have equal access to testing and treatment.
Without fast action by governments, informal workers will be disproportionately exposed to COVID-19 and at high risk for spreading the virus because:
Informal workers lack paid leave and need to continue to earn, so they will have to work while sick, potentially spreading the virus more widely through their social networks, including other informal workers who also lack these protections. 
Their work entails high exposure to germs and high proximity to other people—for example, waste pickers who handle contaminated materials including medical waste,domestic workers who provide cleaning and care are in others’ homes, and street vendors who work in crowded markets.
Many informal workers cannot afford to access healthcare. Where it is not free and they are not covered by national insurance schemes, a single health visit can cost several weeks’ pay.
They live and work in overcrowded informal settlements where access to clean water and basic sanitation is limited; and where social isolation is not possible
Lost income—whether due to illness or enforced isolation—can drive informal workers and families further into poverty. Often they have no fallback other than to seek high interest loans to cover their basic needs, exacerbating the problem.
Occupational health and safety guidance, developed by the WHO and the ILO to respond to COVID-19, do not cover informal work places such as private homes and public spaces. Informal workers’ organizations are now attempting to develop appropriate guidelines that will address this gap.
The massive disruption caused by COVID-19 will be difficult for all citizens in the mid- to long-term, but for informal workers, the devastation will be felt first and fast unless they receive cash grants from their governments and access to health care.
Infrastructure/sanitation services and TaxationPublic health guidelines for tackling this virus—from washing hands and disinfecting surfaces to staying home—are not feasible for many working poor, their families and communities. Street vendors, market traders and waste pickers earn essential daily income in places that lack running water and sanitation or where it is expensive to access water. Local and national governments must find ways to meet this challenge.
Vendors in public spaces provide necessary, affordable goods to vast numbers of people. Recent research shows that street/market vendors have very inadequate access to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Telling them to wash their hands or maintain sanitary conditions is futile unless municipal authorities provide the means to do this. 
WIEGO’s research on taxation has found that informal vendors and market traders contribute to the public coffers through taxes, licenses/permits, levies and fees. Yet informal enterprises rarely benefit from the municipal infrastructure and services that formal businesses rely on. There is an urgent need right now to provide water and sanitation services at a minimum. 
Informal workers contribute to the economic and social well-being of their communities and their nations, and to the public coffers through different forms of taxation. 
Q. What about following the basic prevention instructions? 
 Unfortunately, the advice given by most of the public health authorities to slow the spread does little to address the realities faced by many working poor, who must work to live, who work and live in crowded spaces, and who often lack access to water, sanitation and health care. This is why we are calling on governments to include informal workers in their plans for support, income replacement and healthcare schemes.
The kind of occupational health and safety guidelines, developed by the WHO and the ILO to respond to COVID-19, do not cover informal workplaces such as private homes and public spaces. Informal workers’ organizations are now  developing appropriate guidelines that will address this gap.
To find practical and appropriate interventions, national and local governments must work together on a coordinated disaster response plan that involves the grassroots community groups who are at the forefront of the daily struggles experienced by the working poor. Street vendor associations, waste picker cooperatives, domestic workers’ unions and home-based worker networks should be viewed as partners, alongside community groups who work with urban populations of the working poor.

Mike Bird
Operations Director 

Empowering Informal Workers, Securing Informal Livelihoods