Informalidad laboral en las áreas urbanas de Colombia

Abstract

"This paper carries out a depiction of labor informality in Colombia. We discuss the different alternatives that have been considered when defining and measuring labor informality and, based on technical criteria, we employ the definitions associated to the affiliation to social security schemes (healthcare and pensions) and that used by DANE for measuring the intensity of informality in the twenty-three major Colombian cities. The results show that when defining informality as the lack of affiliation to social security, nearly six out of ten employees belong to the informal sector. Additionally, informal workers in Colombia are characterized by low educational and income levels, besides from working in smaller establishments, when compared to the formal workers. From a regional perspective, the cities with highest informality levels are those out of the trapezium of main economic activity formed by Bogota, Cali, Medellin and Bucaramanga."