Casual and other forms of wage labour - increasingly supplied by labour contractors - are often effectively excluded from labour legislation. Many economists and ministries of finance are unwilling to promote the formalisation of such informal employment - which is often insecure and exploitative -because they fear this will undermine job creation. The result is that the worst forms of wage labour are not avenues out of poverty, but simply survival options. At best, they can help a household escape poverty, but only when combined with other economic activities in a “portfolio”.