The structure and determinants of informal employment in Russia: Evidence from NOBUS data

Abstract

This document presents the first stage results of the research of informal employment and its impact on the social security and retirement system in Russia. While according to the previous studies informal employment used to attract in the first place the most prominent groups of the labour force and provided better earning opportunities, in the NOBUS dataset it is associated with lower average wage rates and wealth indicators. At the same time, it is found that employer-specific traits (in particular, industrial classification and ownership type) have much stronger impact on the probability of informal employment than individual or household attributes of the employees involved.