In Russia, the number of illegally employed workers has increased by a third

08:56; 19 August 2025 year

In the first half of 2025, more than 470,000 illegally employed workers were identified in Russia. This is reported with reference to rostrud data «Izvestia»lt;/a>.

In comparison with the same period last year, the number of revealed facts of shadow employment increased by almost a third. Illegal employment is often recorded in those sectors of the economy where there is a high turnover of personnel and a lot of unskilled labor: construction, the service sector and the household sector (beauty salons, cleaning, repair shops), catering and retail, agriculture, logistics and transport (delivery services).

According to Rosstat, as of June 1, about 76.3 million people were involved in the Russian economy. In the context of the entire labor force in the country, the number of illegally employed workers (identified facts) is less than 1%. At the same time, it is possible that there may be many more employees receiving salaries "in envelopes."

Experts attribute the increase in informal employment to an increase in business costs and a reduction in output in many sectors of the economy amid a record high key interest rate. In order to optimize costs, employers are starting to attract employees without formalizing employment or paying part of the salary in an envelope. In addition, some employees themselves want to work without official registration, wanting to get more money on hand.

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