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The hidden costs of informal work: lack of social protection and subjective well-being in Colombia

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Journal of Public Health

Abstract

Objectives

To examine the association between informal work and subjective well-being in Colombia.

Methods

Repeated cross-sectional study based on data from three nationally representative surveys of 1997, 2005 and 2011 (n = 4485). Life satisfaction was measured with a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 10 points. Informal work was defined as paid work without pension/unemployment contributions. Individual-level pooled Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models were used to assess the association between informal work and life satisfaction. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) was applied to address potential selection into informal work.

Results

Informal work increased from 52 % in 1997 to 68 % in 2011. Informal workers averaged significantly lower life satisfaction than formal (GEE: b = −0.14, 95 % CI −0.26, −0.01, p < 0.05). These results were confirmed in PSM models that controlled for selection by measured confounders (PSM: b = −0.15, 95 % CI −0.23, −0.03, p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Informal workers who are not covered by social security systems had lower subjective well-being than workers in the formal economy. Results suggest that recent increases in informal work may also translate into reduced subjective well-being.

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Acknowledgments

The BARCAS studies were funded by several public and private organizations in Colombia including Colciencias (Grant 097 of 2005), Departamento Nacional de Planeación, Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, Alcaldía de Medellín, Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá, Cámara de Comercio de Cali, Comfandi del Valle, Fundación Promigas de Barranquilla, Fundación Saldarrriaga Concha, Fundación Bolívar-Davivienda, Gobernación de Cundinamarca. The BARCAS was coordinated by Fundación Antonio Restrepo Barco in 2005 and 2011. Special thanks to John Sudarsky, pioneer of social capital research in Colombia.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    David A. Hurtado

  2. Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Philipp Hessel

  3. Department of Social Science, Health and Medicine, King’s College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Mauricio Avendano

  4. Harvard. T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Mauricio Avendano

Authors
  1. David A. Hurtado
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  2. Philipp Hessel
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  3. Mauricio Avendano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David A. Hurtado.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Conflict of interest

David A. Hurtado declares that he has no conflict of interest. Philipp Hessel declares that he has no conflict of interest. Mauricio Avendano declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Additional information

This article is part of the special issue “Development and Public Health”.

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Hurtado, D.A., Hessel, P. & Avendano, M. The hidden costs of informal work: lack of social protection and subjective well-being in Colombia. Int J Public Health 62, 187–196 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0864-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0864-2

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