One of the most striking problems for the enforcement of labour standards in developing countries is the huge informal sector that is to be found in most of the labour markets in the Southern hemisphere. In a number of Latin-American countries the percentage of formal employment is below 50 per cent. This means that not even half of the workforce in these countries has an employment contract. These workers, who often have the status of being self-employed or no defined status at all, are typically uncovered by most labour law provisions. This may be so because national labour law simply…