INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT IN RURAL AREAS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR COMPLEX ECONOMIC-MATHEMATICAL MODELING

Informal employment remains a persistent structural feature of rural labour markets in developing economies, yet efforts to reduce it are often hampered by the absence of an integrated analytical framework linking its determinants to formal modeling tools. This paper aims to transform the qualitative understanding of rural informal employment into a conceptual framework suitable for complex economic-mathematical modeling. Using a systematic literature review and a comparative-analytical method, the study synthesises four theoretical approaches to informality and reorganises its determinants into a four-block system of explanatory variables: economic, institutional, socio-demographic and territorial. On this basis, a three-stage conceptual framework is proposed, connecting the factor blocks (input), the modeling core (logit/probit and panel specifications), and the output (probability and level of informal employment, policy scenarios). The framework provides a methodological foundation for subsequent econometric estimation and for designing targeted, region-specific policies to reduce informal employment in rural areas.