The informal sector refers to household unincorporated enterprises which consists of both informal own-account enterprises and enterprises of informal employers. Informal own-account enterprises are household unincorporated enterprises owned and operated by own-account workers, either alone or in partnership with members of the same or other households which may employ unpaid family workers as well as occasionally/seasonally hired workers but do not employ employees on a continuous basis Enterprises of informal employers are household unincorporated enterprises owned and operated by own-account workers, either alone or in partnership with members of the same or other households, which employ one or more employees on a continuous basis. Applying the set of criteria in NSCB Resolution No. 16, Series of 2003, the following cases are excluded from the informal sector:

(1) Single proprietorships, partnerships and corporations (including corporate farms, commercial livestock raising, commercial fishing and similar units);
(2) Quasi-corporations;
(3) Units with ten or more employees (unless they satisfy all the criteria);
(4) Domestic helpers hired by households;
(5) Units engaged in professional services (unless they satisfy all the criteria);
(6) Farms managed by cooperatives; and
(7) Farms, regardless of size, keeping sets of accounts separate from the households.