South Africa’s unemployment rate has dropped, but what does this really tell us? The formal economy is improving, but the informal sector – worth hundreds of billions/1 Trillion of rand annually – remains disconnected from mainstream capital and financial systems.
Are more people entering formal employment, or are they being pushed into informal survival entrepreneurship? The answer matters for investors, policymakers, and capital allocators.
The informal economy is an untapped engine waiting for structured inclusion. It’s time to rethink our metrics and integrate this sector into the mainstream.
How can policymakers better integrate the informal economy into mainstream systems?
How can we improve measurement and tracking of informal economic activity?
