Jean-Pierre Cling, Nguyễn Thị Thu Huyền, Nguyễn Hữu Chí, Phan Thị Ngọc Trâm, Mireille Razafindrakoto, François Roubaud

January 2020, Avril 2010, Thế Giới Editions, 248 pages,

The informal sector is ubiquitous in Vietnam as in most developing countries. Paradoxically, despite its economic weight, knowledge of this sector is extremely limited as it is in other developing countries. This book sets out to amend this situation by providing accurate statistical data and in-depth analyses on the informal sector and informal employment in Vietnam for the first time ever. These analyses are drawn from the results of two original statistical surveys conducted by the General Statistics Office, with the assistance of the authors: the Labour Force Survey conducted in 2007 ; the Household Business & Informal Sector Survey conducted in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at the end of 2007-beginning of 2008.
Apart from presenting the methodology adopted for measuring the informal sector as well as the challenges in this field, the book sheds light on the main characteristics of this sector: its importance and structure at the national level; the size and the operating conditions of informal production units and profile of the labour force; working conditions and income; production and inter-linkages with the rest of the economy; capital and investment; relationship with the State; problems and perspectives; last of all, the book compares the characteristics of the informal sector in Vietnam and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where surveys have been conducted using the same methodology.