The shadow economy

Country	millions	% of official labour force	% of population
Informal national income as % of official national income
Angola	1.90	35.7	16.3	16.2
Benin	2.00	76.9	34.5	34.5
Botswana	0.30	45.0	19.6	19.3
Burkina Faso	3.40	65.0	32.5	31.4
Cameroon	3.50	61.7	25.1	24.5
Chad	1.30	38.0	18.2	n/a
Congo	0.60	50.3	22.1	21.8
Cote d'Ivoire	3.40	60.3	23.9	23.6
Dem. Rep. of Congo	15.70	80.0	33.6	32.0
Ethiopia	15.70	61.0	26.3	25.3
Gabon	0.30	58.0	26.1	n/a
Gambia	0.50	80.0	42.4	41.2
Ghana	6.10	72.3	33.9	33.0
Guinea	2.60	79.0	37.6	36.9
Kenya	6.00	40.8	21.0	21.4
Lesotho	0.31	38.8	15.4	15.4
Liberia	0.40	35.0	13.8	n/a
Madagascar	3.90	57.5	27.6	27.4
Malawi	2.50	51.7	24.3	23.8
Mali	1.80	36.0	17.5	17.3
Mauritania	0.50	41.0	20.3	20.5
Namibia	0.33	47.1	20.4	20.4
Niger	2.30	51.0	23.5	n/a
Nigeria	23.40	48.9	19.8	48.8
Rwanda	3.20	75.0	40.5	38.7
Senegal	2.50	62.4	28.4	27.6
Sierra Leone	1.30	70.0	27.4	25.9
Sudan	4.60	42.6	16.3	16.3
Tanzania	6.80	42.2	21.7	21.7
Togo	0.70	38.9	16.1	16.1
Tunisia	2.00	57.1	21.5	21.5
Uganda	5.80	56.4	28.5	n/a
Zimbabwe	1.80	33.9	15.7	15.7
Average of 33 countries	3.9	54.2	24.6	25.7

Table 15 illustrates the equivalent results for a selection of Asian countries. In China, it was estimated that 160 million people worked in the informal economy – 22 per cent of the official labour force. This figure should be interpreted with care given that the country is communist; it is not surprising, however, that a communist country should have a smaller informal labour force than other developing economies. In India, just over two hundred million people worked illicitly – around 50 per cent of the official labour force. In Indonesia, the third-most populous country in this group, 36.7 million people were engaged in informal economic activities; this corresponds to 37 per cent of the official labour force. In Pakistan, around thirty million people or 60 per cent of the official labour force worked in the informal economy. The high level of informal economic activity in Asia is also confirmed by the OECD (2009a) study. On the whole, the informal economy labour force in these Asian countries made up 47 per cent of the official labour force and 20 per cent of the population.
15-jadvalda bir qator Osiyo mamlakatlari uchun ekvivalent natijalar ko'rsatilgan. Xitoyda 160 millionga yaqin odam norasmiy iqtisodiyotda ishlagan, bu rasmiy ishchi kuchining 22 foizini tashkil qiladi. Bu raqamni ehtiyotkorlik bilan talqin qilish kerak, chunki mamlakat kommunistik; Biroq, kommunistik mamlakatda norasmiy ishchi kuchi boshqa rivojlanayotgan mamlakatlarga qaraganda kamroq bo'lishi ajablanarli emas. Hindistonda 200 milliondan ortiq odam noqonuniy ishlagan, bu rasmiy ishchi kuchining qariyb 50 foizini tashkil qiladi. Bu guruhdagi uchinchi aholi soni bo'yicha Indoneziyada 36,7 million kishi norasmiy iqtisodiy faoliyat bilan shug'ullangan; bu rasmiy ishchi kuchining 37% ga to'g'ri keladi. Pokistonda o'ttiz millionga yaqin odam yoki rasmiy ishchi kuchining 60 foizi norasmiy iqtisodiyotda ishlagan. Osiyoda norasmiy iqtisodiy faoliyatning yuqori darajasi OECD tadqiqotida ham tasdiqlanadi (2009a). Umuman olganda, ushbu Osiyo mamlakatlaridagi norasmiy iqtisodiyot ishchi kuchi rasmiy ishchi kuchining 47 foizini va aholining 20 foizini tashkil qiladi.

The size of the informal labour force in a selection of South American states is shown in Table 16 for 1998. In absolute terms, Brazil had the highest informal economy labour force with 37.4 million (49 per cent of the official labour force), followed by Colombia with 9.7 million (54 per cent). Both Ecuador (with 59 per cent) and Peru (55 per cent) had a similar rate of informal working. Chile had the lowest rate, with 40 per cent of the official labour force. Overall, the informal economy labour force in these nine countries was 50 per cent of the size of the official labour force and 20 per cent of the population.

The size of the informal labor force in a number of South American states is shown in Table 16 for 1998. In absolute terms, the largest workforce in the informal economy was in Brazil, at 37.4 million (49 percent of the formal labor force), followed by Colombia with 9.7 million (54 percent). Both Ecuador (59 percent) and Peru (55 percent) had the same level of informal work. The lowest figure was in Chile, where 40% of the formal labor force lived. Overall, the informal economy workforce in these nine countries comprised 50 percent of the formal labor force and 20 percent of the population.
Table 15. Informal economy labour force in Asia, 1998.
Osiyodagi norasmiy iqtisodiyot ishchi kuchi, 1998 yil

Country	Informal employment (1998)			Informal national income as % of official national income
	millions	% of official labour force	% of population
China	162.40	21.9	13.1	13.1
India	217.20	50.4	22.2	22.4
Indonesia	36.70	37.4	18.0	11.3
Mongolia	0.42	44.0	16.2	16.9
Nepal	8.60	78.1	37.6	37.6
Pakistan	29.40	60.0	22.3	n/a
Philippines	9.80	30.6	13.0	13.1
Sri Lanka	2.50	31.3	13.3	n/a
Yemen	3.30	65.0	19.9	22.5
Average of 9 countries	52.3	46.5	19.5	19.5

Source: Own calculations based on World Bank, World Development Indicators.
Jahon banki ma'lumotlari, jahon rivojlanish ko'rsatkichlari asosida o'z hisob-kitoblari.
http://www.worldbank.ora/html/extdr/reaions.htm


Transition countries – early studies.
O'tish davri iqtisodiyoti - dastlabki tadqiqotlar.

The informal economy in nine transition countries has also been analysed (see Table 17). The highest level of informal activity was in Armenia (76 per cent of the official labour force), followed by Croatia with 70 per cent and Bulgaria with 63 per cent. In aggregate, well over one hundred million people were working in the shadow economy in these countries. Slovenia had the lowest informal labour force with 31 per cent of the official labour force. On average, the shadow economy labour force in these nine transition countries was 49 per cent of the official labour force and 24 per cent of the population. Here the findings should be interpreted with great care, as these transition countries switched from a planned economy to a market economy and, owing to this, official statistics are not very accurate and calculation methods are approximate. These results are not a surprise, however. A move from a centrally planned to a freer economy often leads to a situation whereby shadow economic activity is more acceptable and the legal infrastructure for regulation, taxation and so on is often very inadequate in the early stages of transition. Indeed, such shadow economy work should not necessarily be regarded as a bad thing.

To'qqizta o'tish davridagi mamlakatlardagi norasmiy iqtisodiyot ham tahlil qilindi (17-jadvalga qarang). Norasmiy faoliyatning eng yuqori darajasi Armanistonda (rasmiy ishchi kuchining 76 foizi), undan keyin 70 foiz bilan Xorvatiya va 63 foiz bilan Bolgariyada joylashgan. Bu mamlakatlarning yashirin iqtisodiyotida birgalikda yuz milliondan ortiq kishi ishlagan. Sloveniya norasmiy ishchi kuchining eng past darajasiga ega: rasmiy ishchi kuchining 31%. Oʻrtacha hisobda ushbu toʻqqizta oʻtish davri mamlakatidagi yer osti ishchi kuchi rasmiy ishchi kuchining 49 foizini va aholining 24 foizini tashkil etdi. Bu erda natijalarni juda ehtiyotkorlik bilan talqin qilish kerak, chunki bu o'tish davridagi mamlakatlar rejalashtirilgan iqtisodiyotdan bozor iqtisodiyotiga o'tgan va shuning uchun rasmiy statistika unchalik aniq emas va hisoblash usullari taxminiydir. Biroq, bu natijalar kutilmagan emas. Markazlashtirilgan rejalashtirilgan iqtisodiyotdan erkinroq iqtisodiyotga o‘tish ko‘pincha yashirin iqtisodiy faoliyatni maqbulroq qiladi va o‘tishning dastlabki bosqichlarida tartibga solish, soliqqa tortish va hokazolar uchun huquqiy infratuzilma ko‘pincha to‘liq yetarli emas. Darhaqiqat, yashirin iqtisodiyotdagi bunday ishlarni yomon narsa deb hisoblash kerak emas.


Table 16. Informal economy labour force in Latin and South America, 1998.
Lotin va Janubiy Amerikadagi norasmiy iqtisodiyot ishchi kuchi, 1998 yil