{
  "title": "Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa",
  "publication": "IMF Working Papers, September 8, 2023",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/09/08/informality-labor-market-dynamics-and-business-cycles-in-north-africa-537448",
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  "summary": "Employment informality is widespread across North Africa. This paper aims to shed light on the role played by the informal sector in labor market adjustments over the business cycle.",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview and metadata",
      "content": "- Title: Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa\n- Authors: Olivier Bizimana, Shant Arzoumanian\n- Date: September 8, 2023\n- Publication: IMF Working Papers; Working Paper No. 2023/182; Issue: 182; Volume: 2023\n- Pages: 36\n- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250583.001\n- Stock No: WPIEA2023182\n- ISBN: 9798400250583\n- ISSN: 1018-5941\n- Citation format example in source: Olivier Bizimana, and Shant Arzoumanian. \"Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa\", IMF Working Papers 2023, 182 (2023), accessed 9/16/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250583.001\n- Subjects: Economic growth; Economic recession; Employment; Informal employment; Labor; Labor force participation; Labor markets\n- Keywords: Business cycles; business cycles in North Africa; Economic recession; Employment; employment informality; Informal employment; Informality; informality economy; Labor force participation; labor market dynamics; Labor Markets; law coefficients from panel regression; North Africa; Okun’s Law; product market rigidity"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key findings",
      "content": "- Employment informality is widespread across North Africa.\n- The response of labor markets to output fluctuations is more muted in countries with higher informality levels, like the North African economies.\n- Informal employment is confirmed to be countercyclical and acts as a buffer during economic downturns in countries with relatively higher informality.\n- During the 2020 pandemic recession, informal employment contracted sharply in high informality economies, indicating it did not play its traditional countercyclical role in that episode.\n- Employment informality tends to fall modestly or increase during economic upturns, including the post-pandemic recovery.\n- The post-pandemic pattern presages the persistence of a large informal sector in the post-covid era in medium- and high-informality countries."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Analysis and implications",
      "content": "- Labor market adjustments over the business cycle behave differently in higher-informality environments: overall labor responses to output are more muted compared with lower-informality settings.\n- The usual buffering role of informal employment in downturns can fail under extreme shocks, as observed in the 2020 pandemic recession for high-informality economies.\n- The observed modest declines or increases in informality during recoveries imply structural persistence of informality following the pandemic in medium- and high-informality countries.\n\nIMF Working Paper No. 2023/182 — Olivier Bizimana and Shant Arzoumanian (September 8, 2023).\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- Working Paper\n  - Working Paper (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - Working Paper (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2023/09/08/informality-labor-market-dynamics-and-business-cycles-in-north-africa-537448"
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    "Authors: Olivier Bizimana, Shant Arzoumanian",
    "Published: September 8, 2023",
    "Series: IMF Working Papers",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250583.001",
    "Title: Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa",
    "Authors: Olivier Bizimana, Shant Arzoumanian",
    "Date: September 8, 2023",
    "Publication: IMF Working Papers; Working Paper No. 2023/182; Issue: 182; Volume: 2023",
    "Pages: 36",
    "DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250583.001",
    "Stock No: WPIEA2023182",
    "ISBN: 9798400250583",
    "ISSN: 1018-5941",
    "Citation format example in source: Olivier Bizimana, and Shant Arzoumanian. \"Informality, Labor Market Dynamics, and Business Cycles in North Africa\", IMF Working Papers 2023, 182 (2023), accessed 9/16/2026, https://doi.org/10.5089/9798400250583.001",
    "Subjects: Economic growth; Economic recession; Employment; Informal employment; Labor; Labor force participation; Labor markets",
    "Keywords: Business cycles; business cycles in North Africa; Economic recession; Employment; employment informality; Informal employment; Informality; informality economy; Labor force participation; labor market dynamics; Labor Markets; law coefficients from panel regression; North Africa; Okun’s Law; product market rigidity",
    "Employment informality is widespread across North Africa.",
    "The response of labor markets to output fluctuations is more muted in countries with higher informality levels, like the North African economies.",
    "Informal employment is confirmed to be countercyclical and acts as a buffer during economic downturns in countries with relatively higher informality.",
    "During the 2020 pandemic recession, informal employment contracted sharply in high informality economies, indicating it did not play its traditional countercyclical role in that episode.",
    "Employment informality tends to fall modestly or increase during economic upturns, including the post-pandemic recovery.",
    "The post-pandemic pattern presages the persistence of a large informal sector in the post-covid era in medium- and high-informality countries.",
    "Labor market adjustments over the business cycle behave differently in higher-informality environments: overall labor responses to output are more muted compared with lower-informality settings.",
    "The usual buffering role of informal employment in downturns can fail under extreme shocks, as observed in the 2020 pandemic recession for high-informality economies.",
    "The observed modest declines or increases in informality during recoveries imply structural persistence of informality following the pandemic in medium- and high-informality countries.",
    "**Working Paper**"
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