ABSTRACT
Introduction The urban poor have to fi nd work that provides cash income to survive. Unlike in many rural areas, it is not possible to exist on subsistence agriculture or by foraging in towns and cities.67 Urban residents have to enter the labour market, make and sell goods or sell services through a lack of alternatives. Even if the required natural resources for agricultural production (such as land and water) are available, in most instances access to them has been commoditized. A cash income is essential not only because most or all food and fuel has to be purchased but also because urban dwellers face costs that may be avoidable in rural areas, for example payments to access housing, water and toilets, and transport costs to and from work.68 But available opportunities for earning a cash income frequently have very low returns, very long work hours and dangerous working conditions. In this chapter we consider how low-income urban households engage with this challenge, focusing on their livelihoods and the labour markets in which they seek income-earning opportunities.
