Análisis de la economía informal en el crecimiento económico del Ecuador

Abstract

This study examines the informal economy in Guayaquil using empirical evidence from a survey of 150 informal workers, showing that the lack of formal employment is the main driver of informality, followed by the need for immediate income and the preference for independent work, while the presence of workers with university education indicates that informality is not solely associated with low educational attainment but rather with the limited capacity of the formal labor market to absorb available labor, additionally informal work represents the main or complementary source of household income but is characterized by labor instability, lack of social protection, restricted access to credit and low productivity, conditions that negatively affect workers’ economic well-being and constrain aggregate economic growth by reducing tax revenues and limiting public investment and employment policies, confirming that informality provides short-term income security while reinforcing long-term structural barriers to sustainable economic growth.