Formalizing Employment in Africa’s Small Firms: Experimental Evidence from Côte D‘Ivoire

Informal, low-quality employment in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remains a significant challenge in low- and middle-income countries. We present evidence from an impact evaluation of a lighttouch business consulting program with a focus on employment formalization in Côte d’Ivoire. Using a randomized controlled trial with 448 MSMEs and a unique employer-employee dataset, we find that the intervention led to employment formalization, driven by greater reported minimum wage compliance and an increase in written contract provision. We show suggestive evidence that these improvements were driven by selective formalization and increased awareness of regulation. The intervention’s financial implications were moderate, with findings indicating that firms partially formalized previously informal payment streams, without a significant increase in total labor costs.