Workers in Asia's informal economy need protecting now

Coronavirus shock should compel governments to bring them into formal sector

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20200601 dhaba Chandigarh.jpg

Workers at a dhaba during lockdown in Chandigarh, pictured on May 15: brisk streetside commerce has all but disappeared. © Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Amit Jain is a Singapore-based consultant who helps clients navigate emerging and frontier markets.

In places where I often travel, or rather used to before the pandemic struck, a small ramshackle kiosk offering snacks, bottled water and mobile phone top-ups is as good a barometer of economic health as any. Where data is unreliable, it can provide an accurate pulse of the market.

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