The study is based on a national survey carried out with 2,000 people, which covers perceptions, motivations and reasons for labor informality. In Chile, 26.7% of the labor market is informal (INE), so reducing this percentage is a relevant challenge to increase pensions.
The first section of the report “The faces of labor informality: an ethnographic approach” is based on the following points:
- Dimensions of how informality is experienced: i) It is not an identity; ii) it is a space that is lived with dignity; iii) it is not arrived voluntarily but appears; and iv) it is a blurry and intermittent space.
- People are informal because: i) search for independence; ii) labor ruptures; iii) you can’t always be formal; iv) culture of informality; and v) low incentives for formalization.
- There are different types of informal people: there is the informal adventurer, the entrepreneur, the natural and the unexpected.
The second section “Citizen imaginaries about labor informality” finds that:
- 64% would choose to work independently if they could freely choose between being independent or dependent.
- Regarding the phrase “people who work informally have a better salary than someone who works under a contract,” 27% responded in agreement, 19% in disagreement, and 54% neither agree nor disagree.
- In relation to their preferences for a type of work, 70% prefer a job with rigid hours but with guaranteed health and retirement, versus, with 30%, having flexible schedules even if they do not have guaranteed health and retirement.
- Finally, among the causes of informality, 70% responded that they agreed that it is due to low salaries, being the cause with the highest percentage.