La informalidad como condición de la reproducción social ampliada del trabajo

Informal reproductive work is a structural pillar of neoliberalism, essential for the social reproduction of the workforce at low cost. Based on the National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE 2025) and using a classification that identifies the reproductive nature of work such as food-preparation, care, transportation, and house-maintenance, approximately 80% of commodified reproductive work is performed under informal conditions; this configuration cheapens the reproduction of the workforce and allows for capitalist accumulation in peripheral nations. The findings reveal a socioeconomic configuration where informality and social reproduction are intertwined, generating a regime of expanded precariousness that transcends productive, formal, or informal spaces. It is concluded that analyzing informality from the logic of expanded reproduction allows us to understand its centrality in the current organization of work, as well as the tensions between precariousness, low wages, and sustaining life.