Improving conditions in the informal sector

It can be argued that if local economic development is achieved through keeping low-paid worker low-paid, then this is exploitative. One of the remedies is to improve promotion and skill-enhancing opportunities through appropriate on-the-job training targeted at unskilled and semi-skilled workers. There remains the dilemma, however, that informal sector operators gain much of their trading advantage by cutting corners on safety, benefits, training etc. If these, arguably exploitative, practices were removed through regulation, low-income workers might have fewer opportunities as there might be fewer successful informal sector businesses.