ABSTRACT
In 1976 the statutory minimum wage in Egypt was LE 12 a month, which rural laborers in 1977 exceeded by 1.5 times. In the informal sector unskilled workers surpassed this minimum 2.6 times. In Tunisia the informal sector comprised 49% in 1975 and 43.4% in 1980 of the total non—agriculture labor force of 795.000 persons. The mainstay of rural production during the 1950s, when Egypt and Tunisia gained political independence, was wheat agriculture, with a reliance on animal power. In the absence of a sizeable market in the retarded agriculture sector with its masses of mini—farmers and landless laborers the informal sector has emerged as a major market, apart from the formal labor force, for urban—produced goods and services. The Tunisian and Egyptian rural middle classes may perhaps function as a second political stratum but as a market they are insignificant. Informal sector workers, returning to the cities from visits with their relatives in the villages, carry food along.
