Older Informal Workers in the COVID-19 Crisis

Abstract

In the study, older informal workers are defined as those aged 60 or older. Approximately 13 per cent (288) of the sampled informal workers are older workers, with 63 per cent of them women and 37 per cent men. Men are over-represented among older workers as their share within this age group is higher than among the younger workers surveyed. The number and percentage of older workers varies significantly between cities and sectors as shown in Figures 1 and 2. Older workers made up a larger proportion of the sample population in New York and Pleven but had much less presence in the samples from relatively youthful cities such as Dakar and Dar es Salaam. Sectoral differences were also seen, with older workers noticeably absent in categories of work such as motorcycle drivers and massage therapists in Bangkok, and kayayei (headload porters) in Accra.