DECENT WORK DEFICITS IN INFORMAL ECONOMY: A CASE FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Globalisation comes with a growing demand for labour, particularly; cheap, disempowered labour. According to research, the weakness of labour laws and regulation to protect either wholly or partially, the rights of informal employees has contributed to the preponderance of indecent and precarious working conditions. Even though, the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda (DWA) identifies the high incidence of informality as the major challenge militating against decent work, the arguments against formalisation uphold the potentials of informal economy to cushion the effect of unemployment and poverty in developing countries. This paper seeks to espouse the need to address decent work deficit by using Domestic Workers in Nigeria as case study. The paper finds that Domestic Workers suffer the worst decent work deficit as they operate at virtually the most invincible strata of the informal economy. However, it is contended that the ILO’s recommendation 204 to eliminate informal economies in order to curb this deficit is rather premature giving its crucial role especially in developing countries like Nigeria. The paper adopts a doctrinal method to explore some of the challenges faced by Domestic Workers in Nigeria as well as how to reduce decent work deficit in the informal economy without stripping off the autonomy, flexibility and low cost that constitute its hallmarks. It recommends regulatory reforms geared towards effective application of existing legal and regulatory framework to informal employment as well as the ratification and domestication of the ILO’s Conventions on decent work as the way forward.