Formalizing Employment in Africa’s Small Firms: Experimental Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire
研究评估了科特迪瓦一项轻量商业咨询项目对小微企业就业正规化的影响，发现干预提升了最低工资合规率和书面合同签订率，但财务影响温和，正规化可能源于雇主对工人的成本收益计算。
Abstract Informal, low-quality employment in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remains a significant challenge in low- and middle-income countries. This study presents evidence from an impact evaluation of a light-touch business consulting program with a focus on employment formalization in Côte d’Ivoire. Using a randomized controlled trial with 448 self-selected MSMEs and a unique employer–employee dataset, it finds that the intervention led to employment formalization, driven by greater minimum wage compliance (12 percentage points (pp)) and an increase in written contract provision (7 pp). The intervention’s financial implications were moderate and the analysis shows suggestive evidence that these improvements were linked to selective formalization driven by employers’ cost-benefit calculation for individual workers. Findings indicate that firms may have partially formalized previously informal payment streams.