Book dossier

Asian informal workers

by Mario Biggeri, Santosh K. Mehrotra

"This book draws on surveys carried out in five Asian countries - two low-income (India and Pakistan) and three middle-income (Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines) - where subcontracted production, usually by women and children working out of home, is now widespread. Home-based work is the source of income diversification for poor families, but is also the source of exploitation of vulnerable workers and child labour as firms attempt to contain costs. This book examines the social protection needs of these workers, and argues for public action to promote such work and protect such workers as a possible new labour-intensive growth strategy in developing countries."--Jacket.