Nigeria Lace and the Informal Economy

Tiffany Amber design  Jane Hahn/Getty Image for the WSJ

The Nigerian lace industry also opens a window on broader change in Africa as a whole: As the consumer class expands, so, too, has the underground, informal economy...While the informal sector, from street-side welders in Kenya to sign makers in Senegal, has created jobs and lifted incomes, it also has strained urban infrastructure. As many as 90% of African city dwellers work in the informal economy, untaxed and unaccounted for, according to the Geneva-based U.N. International Labour Organization.Economists estimate that Nigeria's informal economy is at least as big as the country's roughly $200 billion formal one.