by David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Recession is hitting Britain hard, but it is nothing compared to what is happening to those at the bottom of the pile in developing countries.
Their plight has worsened significantly in the past 12 months, according to No cushion to fall back on, an authoritative report produced under the umbrella of the group Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO).
The report shows alarming drops in the already pitiful incomes for women, home workers and waste pickers, and increased competition for street vendors as those thrown out of work compete with them for the little business available.
These people can comprise as much as 90 per cent of the local workforce. Unlike the unemployed in the developed world, they get no state benefits if they have no job.
The report says: “Many work at or below the extreme poverty line, making less than $1.25 a day and are unable to lift themselves out of poverty. The recession is destabilising the delicate balance of supply and demand on which many fragile informal incomes depend.”
In an effort to recoup lost income, some are working longer hours – from a 9.5-hour day to a 12-hour day. But many home workers simply can’t get any more work as the recession bites.
As a result, diet has suffered. The report found: “In Latin America, a quarter of workers said they had eliminated breakfast from their daily diet. In Pakistan, where only two meals a day were typical six months ago, home-based workers were now serving one meal a day. In Africa and Latin America, ‘luxury’ foods, such as meat and milk, were the first food items sacrificed from family diets. Substitutions, such as eggs and ‘guts’ had replaced chicken and other meat, although these were being rationed. In Pakistan, meat – which earlier was typically eaten once a week, – is now barely eaten once a month.”
Many families have been forced to borrow money. “In these informal credit markets, workers were being charged extortionate rates, as much as 30 per cent per annum.”
The report calls for widespread reform and more protection for home workers in developing countries – pointing out that Indonesia had a minimum wage for factory workers but not for the millions of home workers who often earned less than a quarterof the minimum wage.
It proposes that waste pickers who provide the equivalent of the British municipal recycling service should be part-financed by the authorities and properly organised, since the recycling of rubbish is an essential service.
