Coursework informal employment. Informal (shadow) employment and its consequences

The problem of unemployment in our country is very, very acute. Despite the victorious reports of many officials, the reality is that in many small towns and villages it is sometimes impossible to find a normal, well-paid official job, and not everyone wants to go on “shift duty.” It is not surprising that over the past ten years, informal employment, according to Rosstat, has practically replaced up to 10% of the country’s entire labor market. What it is, why this phenomenon is bad and why it is good, we will tell you in this material.

The first mention of the phenomenon

This term first appeared in the work of K. Hart, which he wrote back in 1973. It was called “Informal Income and Urban Employment in Ghana.” In our country, people started talking about the problem only in the late 90s. No similar studies have been conducted in the Soviet Union.

In principle, the reasons were obvious, since unemployment virtually did not exist. There is still debate among experts about whether informal employment contributed to the emergence of a huge number of underground millionaires in the 80s, or whether this phenomenon can be considered a direct consequence of the shortage of goods and, as a consequence, wild speculation on which huge amounts of money were made. and it was impossible to spend them. Modern scientists agree that these phenomena are still different in essence.

Everything changed after perestroika, when the usual economic order was suddenly replaced by a wild market economy, which was such only on paper. A huge number of unemployed people appeared who were forced to somehow earn money by working for any job, even if no official notes were made about this in the work book.

However, we have already said that it would be naive to believe that informal employment existed only at that time. On the contrary, recently this phenomenon has become increasingly widespread (and all over the world).

What is it: definition

Oddly enough, there is no official definition. Very often, people believe that informal employment is synonymous with illegal, shadow activity, which makes its study largely difficult. But V. Gimpelson believes that it includes much more activities. “Informal” is almost never connected with the real criminal sector. Simply put, informal employment in Russia is a kind of “shadow” labor market that does not welcome official registration of workers for some reason.

Some negative traits

It is for this reason that the people who “hang around” there are in a very vulnerable position. Their activities are virtually uncontrollable by official government departments. In many cases, these persons cannot legally protect themselves from the arbitrariness of the employer. Another negative feature that worries the state most of all is the avoidance of paying taxes, as well as other mandatory payments, which leads to a lack of money received by the country’s state budget. In theory, all this has a strong impact on the economy.

Thus, informal activity can be defined as any employment that operates solely on the basis of oral agreements. It often contributes to the violation of the basic rights of workers, since formally and legally they are not such.

Why is it so important to study this phenomenon?

It is important to understand why it is so important to study the causes and factors contributing to the occurrence of this phenomenon. Firstly, its prevalence, according to numerous studies, directly correlates with the public and social situation in the country. In principle, the presence or absence of informal workers shows how well numerous public institutions are doing their job. The increase in their number also has two most pronounced consequences for society as a whole.

The informal sector is most often characterized negatively: this area unites the poorest segments of the population, who are already poorly protected from a legal point of view, and in this case the situation is even worse. The situation with paying taxes is also quite ambiguous.

Main positive and negative points

The state and society itself are losing the money that they could have received both from the employer himself and from his employees. Of course, people get an advantage in the sense that the money they earn remains completely with them, but at the same time they are deprived of many of their rights. However, the informal sector should not be viewed only from a negative point of view.

It really gives work and allows us to avoid mass unemployment, which is even worse for this very state. Finally, strange as it may seem, it is the informal sphere that is often a working platform for small businesses, which in our country are not protected by the state in any way.

Thus, the nature of this phenomenon is different in different countries. Here it is important to take into account a set of parameters: the volume of tax payments, government guarantees in the social sphere (and the real possibility of receiving them), as well as the socio-economic climate in the country and much more. It is extremely important for the state to realize that in order to build the right economic policy, informal employment of the population must also be taken into account, since it can indicate really existing problems in the economic sphere.

Why do people become “informal”

Why in general do people go to places where they will not have any social guarantees, benefits or payments other than “gray” cash? There are many reasons for this: most often they do this because it is unrealistic to get a job under an official employment contract. This happens due to dumping due to the reluctance of employers to provide better conditions. Finally, young parents may find it extremely important to have a flexible work schedule and the opportunity to earn a good salary.

Some people literally physically cannot stand working under the leadership of some boss. Finally, there are cases when a person can perform complex work that requires high qualifications, but he does not have formal education. In general, the reasons are clear. There is only one question: is the transition to the informal sphere voluntary or is it really the only option for avoiding widespread unemployment?

The situation on the labor market in Russia

In general, as far as our country is concerned, we need to pay attention to the general situation on the domestic labor market. Thus, from 2005 to 2010, the population declined steadily due to the demographic failure of the 90s, but still people became several times more interested in their economic development and began to be much more interested in receiving additional education.

In addition, the state began to take measures to reduce informal employment: this is a new reform in the pension sector, and a different approach to

How the number of workers employed in the informal sector has changed

This was the trend. From 2005 to 2010, their numbers constantly increased. In 2010, the situation reached its peak, as 13,950,601 people were working in the informal sector. In principle, this is easy to explain: immediately after the 90s there was no work yet, and after 2008 and the crisis there was no more work. It is believed that by 2011 there was a trend towards a decrease in the number of “informals” until their number reached 11,803,349 people. Can we say that an era is coming to an end? It is still too early to draw conclusions, especially in connection with the latest general economic trends around the world.

Simply put, all measures to reduce informal employment (more precisely, to reduce it) make no sense until citizens are confident in the future.

Stratification of people in informal employment

Rosstat specialists testify that the number of people who are looking for additional income in this area is no more than 13-17% of the total volume of this market. But sociologists do not agree with them. They believe that these data are many times underestimated. It is likely that at least 70% of the entire population is forced to “go into the shadows”, since people simply do not have enough official income to live a full life. In general, the predisposition to leave for informal activities is influenced by the region of residence, gender, age and education.

Oddly enough, the key feature is gender, and therefore we will look at it in more detail. In our country, in the repeatedly mentioned period from 2005 to 2010, there was no difference in the distribution of the proportion of men and women. But by 2011 and later, men begin to predominate, their total number increased by 7.5%. This can be explained by the fact that the stronger half of humanity is more willing to take risks.

In addition, the social role of men is the breadwinner, and therefore they are simply forced to look for additional sources of income in conditions of an unstable economic situation. Until the state is interested in increasing the income of the population, reducing informal employment does not seem realistic.

How age affects informal activities

A person’s age is no less important in this regard. Thus, young people are more prone to such activities due to their desire for risk and lack of normal education. There is also an acute problem with the labor market itself: it sometimes dictates unrealistic requirements for work experience, which young people simply physically cannot have. In addition, they have to combine study and work, which is not at all welcomed by official employers. On the contrary, older people are less likely to make drastic changes in their lives.

But it is not always the case. Thus, city pensioners often prefer to find official part-time work. But in rural areas, it is often impossible for capable specialists to find official work, and therefore it is much more difficult for pensioners to get a job here. In some villages, older people en masse are engaged in growing agricultural products for the purpose of selling them: this increases their well-being, but such activity also cannot be classified as official work.

Education

The results in this area are quite predictable. As we have repeatedly said, the informal sector employs many people who cannot boast of a high level of education. However, not everything is so simple. More than a third of the “informals” are people with complete secondary education. But there are quite a few post-graduate specialists in their ranks. Most often they become “gray” entrepreneurs.

Control measures

What measures are there to reduce informal employment? This is a whole set of measures that are aimed at increasing the population’s interest in official earnings and increasing the collection of tax payments.

Firstly, the state is obliged to promote an increase in formal jobs and higher wages with stable prices. Without this, the fight against informal employment is nothing more than a myth and a chimera. However, this is what happens in our country. People simply have nowhere to work, and salaries, even in the public sector, are such that not everyone agrees to work for this money.

Secondly, the state is obliged to support its workers. Unfortunately, there are also big problems with this. In the central regions, where the labor of “guests from Central Asia” costs literally pennies, employers are not interested in hiring qualified workers who need to be paid normal wages and provided with social guarantees. It is necessary to punish such employers, force them to pay higher taxes in the case when they primarily employ the labor of guest workers without any real reason.

Thus, the commission to reduce informal employment in the city of Vladivostok found out in 2011 that at least 70% of workers in the municipal sphere and agriculture of the region are migrants, who often not only work without permission and an employment contract, but are generally in the country illegally. position and do not pay any taxes. And this despite the fact that the city is full of unemployed people, whom the same entrepreneurs, who happily take advantage of the labor of disenfranchised and cheap migrants, do not hire.

In addition, the commission on informal employment found that many “businessmen” openly blackmail workers by not increasing (and sometimes even reducing) wages under the pretext that “there are plenty of people willing to take their place.” All this is unacceptable and must be severely punished.

In addition, informal employment must include government support measures aimed at bringing small businesses out of the shadows. Beginning entrepreneurs in all normal countries for some reason have the right to reduced taxes and other concessions, while the domestic one begins to “rip off” all payments from them, starting from the first year, regardless of the presence of profits. As a result, people are again forced to go into the shadows, because they do not want to work at a loss.

Legalization

According to research by domestic experts, about 17% (at least) of entrepreneurs work “in the dark,” without paying taxes and without advertising their activities in any way. Often they themselves are interested in withdrawing their assets from such dubious schemes, but are simply afraid of ending up in prison or working for the rest of their lives to pay fines. Thus, the legalization of informal employment must necessarily involve those businessmen who decide to work officially and pay taxes. Proposals on this have already been repeatedly submitted for consideration by the Government.

Finally, a plan to reduce informal employment should include monthly events for employees of commercial structures, where they could anonymously report “salaries in an envelope,” since this approach is practiced by many entrepreneurs.

Informal employment existed in the USSR in the pre-reform period. In the context of the transition to the market, its role has increased, and new types of informal employment have emerged.

TO informal employment in Russia refers to officially unregistered economic activities, those engaged in which do not pay taxes.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) views informal employment as the activity of small-scale economic units that produce and distribute goods and services and consist primarily of independent, self-employed producers. They use the labor of family members and hired workers. In Russia, the scope of informal employment is wider.

There are many types of informal employment. The main ones are:

• industry - in the field of education, medicine, provision of various services (tailoring, repairs, construction, trade, for example, “shuttle” business);
• organizational - individually employed, workers and owners of small unregistered production units; unofficially registered employees in registered organizations, officially registered employees carrying out unregistered activities at their workplace;
• varieties distinguished by the role of informal employment in income. These groups include persons receiving only informal income; persons for whom informal income is the main source; persons combining work in the “formal” and “informal” sectors (informal employment provides a minor part of income).

All types of informal employment have a common feature - instability associated with limited access to the capital market, vocational training institutions, the social security system, and deprivation of legal protection.

There are various forms of undocumented labor in developed and developing countries. Informal employment is present in developed countries on a much smaller scale and in different forms than in developing countries. In developed countries, the share of the “informal” sector is 5-10% of gross domestic product, and in developing countries it is up to 35%. In Russia it reaches 40%.

Many combine work in the “formal” and “informal” sectors. These are mainly those working part-time at the initiative of the administration or on forced leave. Those who receive low wages, have relatively free work hours or the opportunity to earn extra money at work are also prone to informal employment.

The scale and role of informal employment in Russia

The share of informal employment in Russia is higher than in most developed countries, with the exception of Italy, where, according to some estimates, up to 30% of gross domestic product is produced in the “informal” sector. In Russia, the level of informal employment is comparable to developing countries, but unlike them, in Russia the informally employed can earn high incomes. Poverty also exists in the “informal” sector of Russia, but on a much smaller scale than in developing countries.

Informal employment in Russia is largely associated not so much with the need for survival, but with the desire to avoid paying taxes and bureaucratic procedures. However, first of all, this is a forced reaction of the population to the economic crisis and the fall in real incomes.

According to sociologists, the number of informally employed people in Russia is 25 million people (more than 30% of the economically active population). Many of them have an official place of work. The high level of secondary informal employment among those employed in the “formal” sector is associated with instability and low wages, which forces these individuals to seek additional work, as well as with the difficulty of finding permanent work in the face of rising unemployment.

The role of informal employment in Russia is ambiguous. It largely restrains the sharp decline in the standard of living of the population and the rise in unemployment; people employed in the “informal” sector produce cheap goods and services and have the opportunity to choose a work mode that is convenient for them. The development of informal employment is one of the elements of market self-regulation of the economy.

However, informal employment gives rise to a number of social problems. It creates conditions for the criminalization of society. In the “informal” sector there are no social guarantees, no control over working conditions, the quality of goods and services; informal workers often lose their qualifications and professional skills. The state does not receive a significant portion of the funds as a result of sheltering income from taxation.

It is impossible to completely eliminate informal employment, and with it the hiding of part of taxes from taxation. The scale of informal income generation may be reduced as a result of the creation of favorable conditions for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, which will facilitate the registration of informal production units.

conclusions

1. The development and implementation of fundamental approaches to employment policy, taking into account the possible dynamics of the most acute and destructive forms of unemployment, involve the use of a wide variety of influence instruments.

2. The decline in production in Russia did not cause an adequate reduction in employment and an increase in unemployment. But at the same time, there is a shift in the structure of the unemployed - an increase in socially vulnerable groups and, as a consequence, people who have been unemployed for a long time.

3. Among the long-term unemployed, in addition to the most vulnerable categories of workers, there are also “new marginals” - highly qualified workers and specialists. This indicates that there is no direct connection between education and the stability of a worker’s position. Secondary and higher professional education and high qualifications are not the basis of social security.

4. The scale of informal employment in Russia is higher than in most developed countries. This is due, on the one hand, to the desire to avoid income taxation and bureaucratic procedures, and on the other hand, to the low level of wages at the official place of work and to systematic delays in their payment.

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INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….3
1. CONCEPT AND CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT...6
1.1. The essence of informal employment……………………………………………………..6
1.2. Main components of informal employment…………………………9
1.3. Formation of informal employment and the reasons for its occurrence…. eleven
1.4. Consequences of informal employment………………………………………………………15
2. SCALE AND AREAS OF DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT IN RUSSIA………………………………………………………………………………..17
2.1. Development of informal employment in Russia………………………………...17
2.2. Assessment of informal employment…………………………………………………………….18
2.3. Features of informal employment in Russia……………………………24
H. INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT: PROBLEMS AND WAYS TO SOLUTION...29
3.1. Informal employment in foreign countries………… ……………………...29
3.2. Measures to reduce the scale of informal employment……………….30
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………….36
LIST OF REFERENCES……………………………………………………….37

INTRODUCTION

Russia's integration into the world economy, despite all the social and economic costs associated with it, has pushed for the development of new forms of labor and employment. The reason for this is one thing – the need and adaptation of the population to new realities.
In the context of the global financial crisis, which has not spared Russia, consideration of the situation on the labor market becomes relevant. The labor market is very sensitive to this kind of phenomenon; it, like a mirror, reflects the behavior of employers and employees, often with a criminal overtone.
Recent decades have been characterized - everywhere in the world - by a change in forms of employment in favor of an increasing share of its informal component. There are many approaches to studying this phenomenon that excites the minds of researchers and policymakers, including different ways of defining it, measuring it, and interpreting its nature. Russia is no exception either in terms of the existence of the phenomenon itself, or in terms of the rich collection of studies devoted to it. Many domestic and foreign scientific works are devoted to the problem of informal employment, which indicate the importance of studying this socio-economic phenomenon.
Despite the widespread prevalence of informal employment and the increased interest of researchers in this problem, informal employment remains poorly studied. This is due to the specifics of this phenomenon, which makes it difficult to carry out an objective and reliable assessment. There is still no single concept, no single understanding of the problem of informal employment.
The relevance of the problems of informal employment for Russia is due to the scale of this phenomenon and the important role that it has played in recent years in the country’s economy. Despite the fact that in Russia in recent years this problem has been widely covered in the socio-economic literature, the issue of assessing the interdependence of the labor market and the processes of formation of informal employment has become relevant.
Thus, the study of issues related to assessing the impact of labor on the dynamics and scale of development of informal employment acquires particular relevance. There is an urgent need to study the process of formation of informal employment and the features of this socio-economic phenomenon.
The object of the study is informal employment as a complex socio-economic phenomenon in modern conditions of labor market development.
Goals and objectives of the study. The purpose of the course work is to study the essence and structure of informal employment, identifying factors and reasons for its formation in the conditions of development of the labor market in Russia.
Achieving this goal involves solving the following tasks that determine the structure of the study:
- reveal the essence of informal employment and clarify the concept of “informal employment” in the context of socio-economic transformations in the country’s economy;
- identify a combination of factors and reasons for the expansion of informal employment in Russia.
- determine the conditions for the development of informal employment and identify the relationship between its formation and changes in the main components of the labor market.
In order to most fully reveal the topic of studying informal employment, I touched upon the following main aspects: the essence of informal employment, the causes of its occurrence and its consequences, the main types, assessment and scale of informal employment in Russia.
Understanding the logic of the emergence and spread of informal employment in the labor market, as well as its role in the formation of market relations between employer and employee, is a very difficult and quite relevant scientific task. Given the scale of informal employment, there is a need to analyze its role, impact on the Russian economy and Russian society in general and on the labor market in particular, which determines the relevance of the topic.

1. CONCEPT AND CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT
1.1. The essence of informal employment

Although the problems of informal employment have become the object of close attention of specialists in recent years, they have still not been sufficiently studied scientifically. This is due, firstly, to the nature of the object itself, hidden from the eyes of the researcher. Secondly, with the blurring of the boundaries of the sphere of informal employment. Thirdly, with the difficulty of determining the scale and assessing the parameters of the phenomenon due to the lack of reliable information about it and the significant discrepancy in the results obtained by different assessment methods. And, finally, with the lack of a clear and structured concept defining the object under study, and clear criteria allowing one or another type of labor activity, qualified as employment, to be attributed to it.
In economic science and in practice, there have been two approaches to the question of the essence and content of the category “employment”. Employment is understood as a system of relations determined by the peculiarities of historical development regarding the involvement of the population in economic activities and providing them with jobs. It includes: searching for work and employees; hiring and firing; conditions and content of work; establishing the amount of his payment; employment-related training and worker mobility (movement and advancement). ABOUT A separate question is the relationship between the categories “employment” and “informal employment”.
The Federal Law “On Employment of the Population in the Russian Federation” interprets employment differently - as activity citizens, related to the satisfaction of personal and social needs, which does not contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation and, as a rule, brings them earnings (labor income).
The undeniable identification of employment and activity has been repeatedly noted by domestic labor scientists, who have criticized this key provision of the legislation and noted that employment, in contrast to activity (that is, functioning), is a category that characterizes the inclusion of a subject in a certain system of social and labor relations as either an employee ( including hired), or an entrepreneur and employer (employer), or independently providing work for themselves and their family members (self-employed). In any case, employment brings income to the relevant subject (employee) and presupposes the preliminary conclusion of an agreement (employment contract, employment contract, contract, etc.), which defines the responsibilities of the parties, including in terms of remuneration. Moreover, the informality of such an agreement (oral agreement) does not mean its absence in principle (as is the case, for example, with employees who are members of the same family).
If we talk about employment as an activity related to the satisfaction of needs, then from these positions even activities aimed at satisfying the most base needs can be considered as employment, as soon as someone has a need for such work.
Finally, employment from the standpoint of its compliance with the legislation of the Russian Federation generally calls into question the legitimacy of identifying and considering the category “informal (illegal) employment.” After all, if it does not comply with the provisions of the law, then it cannot be considered employment. As for legislative restrictions, firstly, in Russia labor legislation is quite imperfect and contradictory and, as already noted, does not at all require the mandatory formalization of labor relations. Secondly, it is changing, and what is a deviation from the norm today may become completely normal and legal tomorrow.
In the context of the emergence of a new economy, the problems of informal employment and labor relations are of paramount importance. However, it cannot be said that these problems have been sufficiently worked out at the theoretical level. This is explained by a number of reasons. One of them is that it is quite difficult to assess the parameters of informal labor relations due to their “underground” nature, and also due to the fact that they are often created on the basis of secondary employment, which is covered up by some completely legal type of activity. Assessing the extent of informal labor relations is often hampered by unreliable information, since the line between formal and informal labor relations is quite blurred.
The phenomenon of informal employment acts as one of the manifestations of the informal (expolar) economy. The latter is a broader category, covering not only the informal sector in terms of small and tiny family and household unincorporated enterprises, but also any other economic activity that is not registered and not taken into account by the state and/or deliberately concealed from it (hidden, shadow, fictitious, criminal and so on.).
Informal employment is not identical to employment in the informal sector. It can take place both within officially registered business entities (hidden employment), and within officially unregistered business entities (illegal or unofficial employment), as well as as illegal (prohibited by law) activity (criminal employment).
WITH taking into account the considerations expressed informal employment can be defined as a complex of social and labor relations regarding paid activities carried out contrary to government regulations (registered, not formalized, or not formalized in accordance with the norms of current legislation). This definition of informal employment interprets it as a market category, which presupposes the existence of a labor market. And its most important feature is not the absence of a formalized document, but compliance with the following three criteria:
? inclusion in a certain (market) system of social and labor relations as an employer, employee or self-employed, etc.;
? receiving income from employment (profit, remuneration from other business agents - the employer or consumer of services);
? deliberate evasion of any control, accounting, regulation by the state, and even activity contrary to the prohibitions and restrictions established by it.
Thus, the costs borne by the employer (in case of hiring or dismissal) are extremely low. It follows from this that informal employment is characterized not only by the lack of formalization of labor relations, but also by the fact that this activity brings a certain income.

1.2. Main components of informal employment

If we structure the phenomenon of informal employment, we can identify its components.
Hidden employment, covering informal work activities in officially registered (legal) enterprises, which could be qualified as quasi-formal employment. This category can include such forms of employment as: performing undocumented ("left") work, paid, as a rule, in cash or not paid at all (in fact, forced labor); work on the basis of a contract, a civil contract, an agreement on the performance of duties - in the event that such documents are not reflected in statistical reporting on the number of employees at the enterprise. This group, in particular, should include a large category of persons working under the so-called network marketing system on the basis of a contract (agreement) that is not an employment contract; labor activity for hire, carried out on the basis of an oral agreement and paid in cash. This category also includes the so-called “snowdrops,” that is, persons who are not on the staff of the enterprise (organization), but work and perform the duties of fictitious full-time employees.
Illegal employment, which should include all types of labor activity that do not contradict current legislation, but for various reasons are carried out without its official registration: hired work in unregistered firms and enterprises; entrepreneurial activity in legally permitted (legal) types of business, carried out without its official registration or registration of a patent; self-employment in the provision of various individual services, carried out for the sake of receiving income that is not declared to the tax authorities (tailoring, repair of housing, household appliances and personal vehicles, individual medical, legal and transport services, assistance in housekeeping, tutoring, nursing and etc.).
Criminal employment- a phenomenon closely related to the criminal economy, that is, with such types of asocial activities (both entrepreneurial and hired), which are prohibited by law and the implementation of which must be prosecuted criminally (production and distribution of drugs, weapons, pornographic products, counterfeiting money) signs and documents, prostitution, pimping and pimping, poaching, production of counterfeit products, smuggling, including human trafficking, etc.). This group also includes types of activities that are not directly prohibited by law, but the implementation of which requires specialized education and an appropriate diploma confirming it, as well as a special license (for example, medical activities, production and sale of medicines, security and investigative activities, gambling business).

1.3. Formation of informal employment and reasons for its occurrence
The component approach proposed by prof. Bylkov V.G., who includes among them: 1. Socio-economic relations between subjects of the labor market. 2. Formation of demand and supply for labor. 3. Formation of labor prices. 4. Labor market infrastructure. is the most successful methodological approach to identifying and studying the characteristics of informal employment. Using a component approach, a definition of informal employment was formulated, characterizing the essence and nature of this socio-economic phenomenon.
The formation and further development of informal employment is influenced by the process of formation, first of all, of the demand for labor. Indeed, the development of the service sector, where new jobs with special features are created, affects informal employment. Among the factors favoring the development of informal activities are the increasing demand for private services and the spread of new technologies (especially in communications).
The supply of labor in the informal economy expands the boundaries of attracting all categories of citizens. Informal employment can be ensured by the supply of labor of persons who have standardized professional training or who agree to perform lower-skilled work. The labor supply is also formed in the process of the spread of “light technologies”, which increase the opportunities for informal income. An essential element is the formation of labor prices. In conditions when market mechanisms for determining the price of labor are violated, there is an objective need to include a worker in informal employment on the basis of either additional employment, self-employment, or inclusion in the informal sector on various informal principles.
The next component of the labor market that affects the formation of informal employment is the relationship between labor market actors. When analyzing informal labor relations between labor market actors, it is important to consider whose interests they correspond to.
It is necessary to assess how and to what extent labor market components influence the formation of informal employment. There is a need to determine component informal employment, which is the basis for the formation of real informal employment. The process of formation of certain types of informal employment is presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1.
Formation of informal employment

Causes of informal employment

A decline in the level and quality of life of the population is a favorable environment for the emergence of informal labor relations, leading to the consolidation of the interests of the main subjects of the labor market. Today, for the majority of the population, participation in these relationships provides a living wage, and therefore a way out of poverty, and for employers, accordingly, a reduction in costs and maximization of profits.
There is a relationship between the level of wages and the amount of informal employment. The lower the income from legal activities, the higher the share of the informal sector.
In addition, it should be noted that there is a surplus of labor, which fundamentally gives rise to illegality in the labor market. The excess supply of labor over the demand for it allows employers to reduce wages, increase working hours, not pay sick leave, vacations, and unilaterally terminate employment contracts.
At the same time, existing shortcomings in the legal regulation of labor relations create conditions for the illegal exploitation of youth labor in the forms of so-called apprenticeship, probationary periods (often unpaid), and give rise to informal relations in the sphere of labor.
The lack of demand for a particular specialty in the labor market, as well as - what is especially noteworthy - the complexity of the procedure for formalizing and registering entrepreneurial and labor activities, without which it turns out to be simpler, easier and faster to get earned money.
Based on all of the above, among the main reasons contributing to the emergence of informal employment in labor surplus regions, the following can be identified:

high level of general unemployment;
lack of legal jobs;
instability of formal employment;
bureaucratic arbitrariness (constant checks, extortions);
the inability of the economy to provide the majority of the population with a decent level of income;
delayed wages and low wages;
desire for a prosperous life;
underdevelopment of the legislative framework.

Consequences of informal employment

2. SCALE AND AREAS OF DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMAL EMPLOYMENT IN RUSSIA
2.1. Development of informal employment in Russia

It is important to determine what functions (see Table 2.1.) informal employment performs at various stages of socio-economic development.

Table 2.1.
Functions of development of informal employment in Russia

Assessment of informal employment

I examined the essence of informal employment, its characteristic features, reasons for its occurrence, and compared the formal and informal sectors. In concluding, I would like to touch on every point in this chapter.

a) the concept of informal employment covers workers whose labor relations are not covered by labor legislation; Accordingly, such workers are not covered by taxation and social protection.

b) the emergence of informal employment due to a decline in the standard of living of the population, excess labor supply, systematic wage arrears and low wages in the public sector, and general instability of employment in the formal sector.

c) identified the main types of informal employment:

industry;

organizational;

varieties distinguished by the role of informal employment in income.

d) compared the formal and informal sectors. This comparison made me understand that the formal and informal sectors have both common features and significantly different ones. But they are still closely related, since, for example, secondary employment is covered up by some completely legal type of activity, and this blurs the boundaries between sectors.

2. The scale and scope of informal employment in Russia

2.1 Assessment of informal employment

According to surveys of specialists, it was revealed that it is impossible to quantify the scale of informal employment not only in Russia as a whole, but even in each region. Experts limited themselves to noting that these scales are large and tend to grow. Their estimates vary widely: from 3-5 to 40-50 and even 80% of the employed population. At the same time, the most common estimate was 25-30% of the economically active population, which ranges from 18 to 22 million people.

Such a large discrepancy in assessments seems to be caused, on the one hand, by the complexity of the problem and the almost complete lack of information, on the other hand, by the lack of development of the concept and the lack of clear criteria for classifying the population as informally employed. As a result, the highest scores may be a consequence of the respondent's broader interpretation of the concept.

The assessments most often found in specialist questionnaires do not refute those contained in the specialized literature. According to such estimates, approximately 30% of the adult population, or from 25 to 30 million people, are informally employed in Russia, and in total 58-60 million people are somehow connected with the shadow economy.

Among the informally employed, the majority are local residents, who, according to experts, account for approximately half of this contingent. They are followed by citizens of neighboring countries (approximately 25-30% of the informally employed), among whom (in decreasing order of frequency of mention) citizens of Ukraine, Transcaucasian states, Moldova, the Central Asian republics, Belarus and Kazakhstan predominate. The third position - approximately 15-20% - is occupied by residents of other regions of Russia, among whom immigrants from the North Caucasus predominate. Moreover, they emphasize that the contingent of informally employed is formed by representatives of all regions of Russia. And finally, approximately 5% of informals are citizens of non-CIS countries (in decreasing order of frequency of mention - China, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Turkey, Korea, other countries of the Asian region, the Baltic states and Yugoslavia).

Thus, at least a third of those informally employed in the Russian economy are, according to the questionnaire survey, persons who can be qualified as illegal immigrants, which exceeds even the most daring estimates of migration experts.

Over 75% of respondents note that informal employment is most common in Moscow and the Moscow region, St. Petersburg and in large cities in general (million-plus cities, capitals of federal subjects, etc.). This is followed by the Central, then the Southern Federal Districts (the republics of the North Caucasus and the Krasnodar Territory were especially highlighted in this regard as regions where the number of refugees and internally displaced persons is large) and the Far Eastern region (especially the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories). Some respondents also named the Volga region, the Urals, Western and Eastern Siberia, regions of the Russian North and single-industry towns. It was emphasized that this phenomenon is characteristic of all regions of the country.

What is most typical for Russia is the periodic participation of the population in informal employment as a way to wait out difficult times. The achieved level of employment in the informal sector for Russia appears to be very high, and the upward trend continues. Currently, the outflow of workers from the formal sector to the informal sector continues, the economically inactive population is forced to enter the labor market, replenishing mainly the informal sector, the expansion of secondary employment, including in the informal sector, due to a decrease in the standard of living of the population, systematic wage arrears and low wages in the public sector, general instability of employment in the formal sector. So, the informal sector develops due to a decrease in the effective demand for labor in the formal sector of the economy and, thus, displacing those employed from the formal sector. As the informal sector develops, it creates its own demand for labor.

Unlike developing countries, in Russia almost no one equates informal employment with poverty and lack of rights. On the contrary, a stereotype has emerged about the extremely high incomes of the informally employed. In fact, poverty also occurs in Russia's informal sector, but on a much smaller scale than in developing countries. In general, it is very difficult to draw any analogies in terms of the level of income from informal activities between Russia and other countries. In a number of developing countries, one of the criteria for inclusion in the informal sector is the level of income for independent work below the subsistence level or a salary below the officially established minimum. In Russia, the legally established minimum wage is several times lower than the actual subsistence level; a significant portion of those working in the public sector have wages below the subsistence level.

Informal employment in Russia is largely associated not so much with the need for survival, but with the desire to avoid paying taxes and bureaucratic procedures. However, first of all, this is a forced reaction of the population to the economic crisis and the fall in real incomes.

According to sociologists, the number of informally employed people in Russia is 25 million people (more than 30% of the economically active population). Many of them have an official place of work. The high level of secondary informal employment among those employed in the “formal” sector is associated with instability and low wages, which forces these individuals to seek additional work, as well as with the difficulty of finding permanent work in the face of rising unemployment.

Thus, the scale of informal employment in Russia is much wider than in most developed countries, and is comparable in size to the shadow labor market in developing countries, where its share ranges from 25 to 45%. This means that the sphere of informal labor relations is a well-established independent segment of the labor market with a significant number of employees, certain areas of activity, and established socio-demographic and professional characteristics of workers.

2.2 Sectoral structure of the informally employed in Russia

The industries where informal employment is predominantly widespread are, according to experts, trade and public catering, construction, the service sector and agriculture (Table 2).

Table 2. Industry structure of the informally employed in Russia,%.

Among other industries, science, healthcare, and education are mentioned.

The sectoral structure of informal employment indicates that in Russia its intensive development in the last decade is closely connected with the processes of denationalization of the economy: it was in trade, construction, and the service sector that non-state forms of ownership began to develop and became most widespread, conducive to the spread of informal labor relations.

The survey participants clearly underestimated industry as a sphere of employment for informal workers, although the spread of non-state forms of ownership contributes to the growth of informal employment in this area, including at state-owned enterprises.

Thus, a survey conducted in the first half of 2001 by the Center for Labor Market Research of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences showed that at 20% of surveyed enterprises during the year preceding it, workers were hired without paperwork with immediate payment upon completion of work. Moreover, in almost 30% of cases such employees ranged from 5 to 40%. The distribution of these enterprises by industry and form of ownership is presented in Table 3. Noteworthy is the fact that it is in state-owned enterprises that the share of casual workers employed on an informal basis turned out to be the largest.

Informal employment is concentrated mainly in the servants' sector, especially in trade (wholesale and retail) and public catering. At the same time, the number of informally employed city residents in construction and transport is quite large. Moreover, informal employment in the trade sector is, as a rule, primary, while in construction it is secondary.

According to the MCC survey, about 30% of city residents employed in trade and public catering work without an employment contract. The main regular informal employment in these sectors accounts for 57% of the total number of informal jobs in the sample (N=128), while the share of jobs in the trade and public catering sector is only 15% of the entire sample. Four industries (retail trade and catering, construction and transport) account for almost three-quarters of informal employment, but only 33% of total urban employment.

Given the sectoral structure of informal employment, it is not surprising that the most common occupational status in informal employment is service worker, followed by industrial workers. Thus, the growth of the service sector can be considered as a factor in the growth of informal employment, but unlike developed countries, in Russia there is an expansion not of manufacturing services, but of trade, which generates the largest number of informal jobs.

The fact that informal employment is concentrated mainly in small young enterprises operating in the services and public catering sectors proves only one thing: the nature of the economic activities of such firms, including their unstable, volatile nature, as well as limited access to credit resources, does not allow them comply with the strict rules of Russian labor legislation. With such staff turnover, the employer must have sufficient flexibility to hire new staff if the enterprise grows and fire excess workers if it is downsized. Another factor influencing the formalization of labor relations is taxation. In Russia, an employee does not pay contributions to the social protection system from his income (for pensions, unemployment insurance, etc.), while the single social tax rate until 2005 for the employer was more than 35%.