Dynamics of Shadow Employment of the Russian Population

The article is devoted to problems of the modern labor market in Russia associated with the widespread use of shadow employment and the loyal attitude of the population to various manifestations of the shadow economy. The article examines the dynamics of the involvement of employed citizens in non-criminal shadow processes, their attitude to various manifestations of the shadow economy, the reasons for non-criminal shadow employment, and the attitude of the population to the state’s actions to reduce shadow employment, including the introduction of a new tax regime, “Tax on professional income” for individuals. The paper uses the results of the all-Russian sociological survey of the employed population, conducted in 2020. There is a decrease in the number of citizens involved in the shadow processes in the labor market, which may be due to both the result of the activities of state regulatory bodies to stimulate the exit from the shadow among self-employed citizens, and the possible impact on workers’ shadow activities of the pandemic, which severely restricts the forms of providing shadow services and jobs as well as the ability of consumers to obtain them. It is revealed that, as measures to reduce informal employment, the Russians prefer stimulating actions rather than measures with various restrictions or penalties. Based on the empirical results of monitoring the shadow labor market, directions of activities to stimulate the participation of citizens in official employment are proposed.

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