Ensuring full or high employment has been one of the key mandates put forward by the international development community.1 But despite their impressive economic growth, a number of Asia- Pacific economies continue to experience high informal and vulnerable employment. Including agriculture, estimates of informal employment (comprising workers in small enterprises of fewer than five workers, self-employed own-account workers, unpaid family helpers and workers with no proper contract in the formal sector) range from 20% of the labour force in the Russian Federation to more than 90% in India.
