Informal employment as a social determinant of health

A conceptual framework and research agenda accounting for context

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4594437
AutoresAmanda E Aronsson (0000-0002-2848-6116, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Tim Huijts (0000-0002-2085-4113, Maastricht University)
Ano2025
Volume368
Páginas117809
Data de publicação2025-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
EditoraElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117809
PMID39938432
OpenAlexW4407024374
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas54

Despite most workers globally being informally employed, our understanding of the role of informal employment as a social determinant of health and health inequalities remains limited. Existing research tends to focus mainly on direct associations between informality and health and to some extent on how informality affects health through micro-level factors such as gender and working conditions. This research has produced mixed results on the relationship between informality and health. We argue that this is because most existing work has not sufficiently addressed how informality affects health. This holds especially for quantitative research. In this paper, we aim to provide a conceptual framework that addresses these limitations by emphasizing the role of contextual factors located at the macro- and meso-levels in shaping the health consequences of informality. Not only does attention to context allow comparisons to be made across settings despite heterogenous meanings of informality, but such an approach also enables more comprehensive explanations of when, where and for whom informality is harmful to health. We furthermore propose attention to the level of regulation and protection available to workers, as a strategy to analytically operationalize contextual factors. Based on this framework, we present a research agenda in which we suggest prioritized directions for future research that would contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how informality is linked to health

Conceptual framework · Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Health care · Inequality · Operationalization · Public economics · Social determinants of health · Social science · Sociology · Work (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Workplace Health and Well-being