Economic Informality and Urban Worker Precarity in City Governance
Keywords:
economic informality, urban workers, precarity, livelihood security, public space governance, value chains, social protectionAbstract
This article examines urban economic informality as a dual condition that sustains livelihoods while reproducing worker precarity. It offers a normative account of how rapid entry, flexible scheduling, and relational access enable households to secure income when formal employment is inaccessible or delayed. At the same time, informality often relocates market volatility, health risk, and spatial insecurity onto individuals with minimal buffers. The discussion highlights how oral work arrangements, unstable daily earnings, and uneven access to social protection constrain planning, asset building, and upward mobility across the life course. Urban space governance is treated as central, since public space regulation and selective enforcement can abruptly remove workplaces and destroy small capital. Informal value chains can further weaken bargaining power through thin margins, dependence on intermediaries, and hidden costs. The article argues that informality becomes unjust when cities benefit from low cost services while leaving workers to absorb systemic uncertainty. It concludes by outlining principles for fair urban livelihoods grounded in recognition of informal work, predictable rules for workspace access, and broader risk pooling through social protection and accountable public administration.
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