What is the exact strength of the informal labour market in Pakistan? What are the sectors they contribute to?

In the aftermath of globalisation, the informal economy is on the rise. If you look at the profile of the informal labour market in Pakistan, an overwhelming majority of the workforce now earn its livelihood as informal labour. Of the 57 million workforce, informal sector accounts for more than 73.8 per cent of non-agricultural employment, more in rural than in urban areas. About 45 per cent labour force is in agriculture and working conditions in agriculture are also similar to the informal sector.

According a labourforce survey, the informal labour is mostly found in wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, construction, transport and community, social and personal services. The other category (comprising of mining and quarrying; electricity, gas and water and finance, insurance, real estate and business services) accounts for two per cent.

Manufacturing, accounts for more than half of females as compared to about one-fifth of males, wholesale and retail trade employs more than two-fifth of males compared to about one-tenth of females while community/social and personal services employ around three-tenth of females.

What are the problems that these home-based workers face on an everyday basis?

The government of Pakistan recognises that there are 8.52 million HBWs in the country, making up 17.5 per cent of the country’s 50 million plus labour force. The proportion of women in the HB sector is 65 per cent while men account for four per cent. Pakistan earns 50 million in dollar exchange out of this industry alone by way of the country’s contribution to the world’s match-grade footballs.

However, Pakistan’s HBWs, an integral part of the informal sector of the economy, are not covered by any labour legislation or social security measures as they work in extremely compromised conditions on abusive terms, while accepting an undervalued price for their labour. The state as well as policy-makers have ignored this important sector for years, keeping it out of the loop of legislation and law implementation.

These workers are often denied their rights. What is the government and other organisations doing to improve the situation?

Despite their challenging circumstances, Pakistan’s HBWs associations notably HomeNet Pakistan have made reasonable progress moving their way up the policy-makers agenda.

Being a relative newcomer in the worldwide movement of HBWs and of formal activism, the sector has travelled significant distance in the last two decades in terms of awareness and negotiation of their rights. Organisations promoting women’s rights and workers rights must be credited for their untiring efforts to mobilise the HBWs and engaging the state to bridge the access gaps that have hurdled visibility and policy-making efforts directed at the HBWs. Pakistan is also a member of the HomeNet South Asia.

Regardless of the current position of HBWs in the national policy order as well as in the domestic labour structure, the journey of Pakistan’s HBWs, from being an invisible entity to a formidable force securing serious attention from general public as well as the state, is worth comprehending. The national policy for home based workers has played an important role in this regard as the long-drawn process of its formulation, development of consensus on key items and the processing of the policy from drafting stage to reviews by executive offices to action in legislative corridors has aroused the interest and commitment of stakeholders to the cause of the HBWs.

What would you suggest as practical steps in order to bring a change in the status of these HBWs?

A strong tripartite arrangement needs to be developed to link home-based workers with employers and the government. This should help equip the HBWs to acquire relative independence to advocate for their rights while it would also encourage state and employers to demonstrate greater commitment to the delivery of the rights of the home-based workers. At the same time, it needs to be realised that in the absence of an organised structure (unionisation) this should remain a challenging task.

Currently, the existing regulatory structure for union formation is not applicable to the informal sector, preventing the members of this sector from forming official unions. There is need to explore channels for the formation of unions/organisations of HBWs in the absence of regulations for their registration.

More than following an official process, it is important that the HBWs are organised at districts, cities and provincial levels to act as a force to influence the process of rights delivery by the state. However, leaving the task to the civil society organisations or the existing trade union bodies may not serve the purpose as successful alliances are built only by way of self realisation and commitment on the part of stakeholders to pursue their interest.

Political parties have yet to formally make HBWs a part of their constituency and an agenda item for public welfare. Though the expertise for law-making and legislation lies with technical experts in the government machinery, any stated item on the political parties agenda, backed by the party’s commitment to pursue it, finds broader space for turning into law. —Sa’adia Reza