> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # More Guyanese Are Working for Themselves. A World Bank Study Says Many of Them Want To. - URL: https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-self-employment-informality-world-bank-study-2026/ - Published: 2026-09-23T05:19:23.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-23T05:19:25.000Z - Description: Own-account workers rose to 19.2 per cent of Guyana's employed in the fourth quarter of 2025 from 16.7 per cent, and 43.2 per cent of workers were informal. A World Bank study argues the region's informal self-employed often choose the work. - Author: Theon Alleyne - Tags: Business, Guyana, MSME, CELAC **Quick summary:** A World Bank study argues that Latin America's informal self-employed often choose that work for its independence rather than being pushed into it. In Guyana, own-account workers rose to 19.2 per cent of the employed in the last quarter of 2025 from 16.7 per cent a year earlier, and 43.2 per cent of workers were in informal employment. By LCN Business Desk About half of the region's 325 million workers have no formal labour contract, which leaves them outside mandatory social security, paid leave and the minimum wage. A World Bank study, Rationalizing Informality: Social Protection, Job Quality and Growth, asks why so many of them work for themselves, and answers that a large share of them prefer it, in an essay published by [Americas Quarterly](https://americasquarterly.org/article/understanding-latin-americas-self-employment/?ref=lacaribenanews.com). The informal self-employed own businesses with fewer than five employees, account for roughly 30 per cent of the region's labour force and employ 85 per cent of informal workers, the essay says. Self-employment rates run from under 15 per cent in advanced economies to 90 per cent in Africa, and 25 to 70 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, falling consistently as countries get richer. Around 60 per cent of Bolivia's workforce is self-employed. ## Is the region's self-employment a sign of failure? Not on its own. Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica, Guatemala and Mexico sit on or below what would be expected at their income levels, while Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Peru sit substantially above, the essay says. It also notes that the region's self-employment is roughly where Korea's and Japan's were at the same stage of development. The preference is measurable. Over 70 per cent of payroll workers in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the Philippines say they would rather be self-employed, against 20 per cent in Belgium, Finland and Norway, on International Social Science Programme data cited in the essay. Workers value the flexibility and independence at around half their actual earnings, and value formal-sector benefits well below what those benefits cost. ## What does the study say should change? Skills first. Thirty per cent of larger firms in the region say they cannot grow for lack of qualified labour, while undereducated workers find their best option in informal self-employment. The study also calls for a more dynamic formal sector, pointing to credit that even large firms cannot access, and for social protection systems adapted to how people actually work, according to the [World Bank](https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/lac/publication/rationalizing-informality?ref=lacaribenanews.com). ## Where does Guyana sit? Working for yourself is growing here. Own-account workers rose to 19.2 per cent of the employed in the fourth quarter of 2025, from 16.7 per cent a year earlier, while the share who are employees fell to 67.3 per cent from 69.8 per cent, according to the Bureau of Statistics [Labour Force Survey](https://statisticsguyana.gov.gy/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GLFS-2025-Q4-Bulletin.pdf?ref=lacaribenanews.com) published in July. | Status in employment, Guyana | Q4 2024 | Q4 2025 | | ---------------------------- | ------- | ------- | | Employees | 69.8% | 67.3% | | Own-account workers | 16.7% | 19.2% | | Employers | 12.0% | 12.0% | | Contributing family workers | 1.5% | 1.4% | Source: Guyana Labour Force Survey, fourth quarter 2025, Table 9. Informal employment is measured separately. In the fourth quarter of 2025, 43.2 per cent of workers were in informal employment on the Bureau's first criterion, and 47.3 per cent on its second, which counts units without a complete set of accounts. The rate was 48.7 per cent for men and 33.2 per cent for women, and 45.8 per cent in rural areas against 34.0 per cent in urban ones. A year earlier the total was 43.7 per cent. On the regional comparison the study uses, Guyana is not an outlier. Its informal share sits below the regional half, and its own-account share sits below the 30 per cent the study attributes to the region's informal self-employed. ## What does self-employment cost a Guyanese worker? Contributions on declared income, and a narrower set of benefits. Self-employed contributors pay 12.5 per cent of declared income to the National Insurance Scheme and are not covered for industrial benefits, according to the [NIS](https://www.nis.org.gy/?ref=lacaribenanews.com). The insurable earnings ceiling stands at $280,000. Money is the other constraint the study names, and it is one this newspaper has reported on repeatedly in Guyana: the region's capital does not see its smallest businesses, reported in [Capital Is Everywhere in the Caribbean. The System Still Cannot See Our Entrepreneurs](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/caribbean-sme-finance-gap-explained/), and payment terms strand the ones that do sell, reported in [The 90-Day Wait](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/the-90-day-wait-why-caricom-small-businesses-starve-for-cash-while-india-quietly-built-a-fix/). ## Could the Development Bank widen the door? That is what its opening terms are built for. The Guyana Development Bank opens on 5 October with a first tranche of G$20 billion, offering zero-interest, collateral-free loans of up to G$3 million to small and medium-sized enterprises, as La Caribeña News reported in [The Guyana Development Bank Act Is in Force](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-commencement-order-october-5-2026/). Collateral is the thing an own-account worker does not have. Three features of the bank point at the same group of people. Women, youth and differently abled entrepreneurs are named priority groups, reported in [Named Priority Groups for Guyana Development Bank](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-women-entrepreneurs/). Public servants are eligible, reversing a long-standing exclusion, reported in [Public Servants to Access Development Bank Loans](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/public-servants-to-access-development-bank-loans-minister-ally-confirms-with-conflict-of-interest-guardrails/), which matters to anyone running something on the side of a government job. And the G$3 million at zero interest is designed to be paired with G$10 million of commercial money, reported in [Guyana Development Bank Pairs G$3M Loans With G$10M Commercial Co-Financing](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-co-financing-arm/). Two things about that money meet the informality the survey measures. Lending to a business with no written accounts is the harder half of what the World Bank study asks of credit systems, and 43.2 per cent of Guyanese workers are in units the Bureau counts as informal on exactly that test. And the bank intends to publish who borrows: it plans to name borrowers before they are paid, reported in [Guyana Plans to Name Its Development Bank Borrowers Before They Are Paid](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-development-bank-borrowers-publicly-listed-objections-2026/). One practical barrier moved this week. A booking app built in Guyana took its first mobile money payment inside its own checkout, reported in [A Georgetown Salon Took a Deposit Online This Week](https://www.lacaribenanews.com/guyana-mmg-plus-online-payments-salon-booking-app-2026/). For an own-account worker, the difference between a screenshot and a settled payment is the difference between a record and no record. Nineteen per cent of Guyana's employed now work for themselves, and the share is rising while the employee share falls. ### What the title card shows - **19.2 per cent:** own-account workers as a share of Guyana's employed, fourth quarter 2025, up from 16.7 per cent a year earlier. Source: Bureau of Statistics. - **67.3 per cent:** employees, down from 69.8 per cent over the same year. Source: Bureau of Statistics. - **43.2 per cent:** Guyanese workers in informal employment, on the Bureau's first criterion. Source: Bureau of Statistics. - **30 per cent:** the region's labour force made up of informal self-employed, who employ 85 per cent of informal workers. Source: World Bank study via Americas Quarterly. - **12.5 per cent:** what a self-employed contributor pays the National Insurance Scheme on declared income. Source: NIS. ## Frequently Asked Questions How many Guyanese work for themselves? Own-account workers were 19.2 per cent of the employed in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from 16.7 per cent a year earlier. Employers were a further 12.0 per cent, according to the Guyana Labour Force Survey. How much of Guyana's workforce is in informal employment? 43.2 per cent on the Bureau of Statistics' first criterion in the fourth quarter of 2025, and 47.3 per cent on its second. The rate is higher for men than women and higher in rural areas than urban. Why are so many Latin Americans self-employed? The World Bank study argues that many prefer it. Workers cite flexibility, independence and being their own boss, and value those at around half their earnings, while valuing formal-sector benefits below what they cost. Could the Guyana Development Bank help people who work for themselves? Its opening terms are aimed at that gap. From 5 October it offers zero-interest, collateral-free loans of up to G$3 million to small and medium-sized enterprises, from a first tranche of G$20 billion, with women, youth and differently abled entrepreneurs named as priority groups and public servants eligible. What does a self-employed person pay the National Insurance Scheme in Guyana? 12.5 per cent of declared income, against an insurable earnings ceiling of $280,000\. Self-employed contributors are not covered for industrial benefits.