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- There was a whiff of gray: a third more illegally employed workers were identified in the Russian Federation
There was a whiff of gray: a third more illegally employed workers were identified in the Russian Federation
In Russia, over 470,000 illegally employed workers were found in the first half of 2025, the Federal Labor Agency told Izvestia. This is almost a third more than last year. This is driven by a shortage of personnel — in order to close the bids, it is beneficial for companies to recruit people faster without formal registration, and for those hired to start earning faster. However, they themselves suffer from this — because of the salary in the envelope, the employee does not have social guarantees, it is easy to dismiss him. Most of these employees are in construction, services, catering and delivery. Why it has not yet been possible to solve the problem of illegal employment is in the Izvestia article.
How many people in Russia work illegally
The number of illegally employed workers in Russia has increased significantly, from about 370,000 in the first half of 2024 to more than 470,000 in the same period of 2025. Such data was shared with Izvestia in Rostrud.
These statistics include incorrectly formed employment relationships with foreigners and residents of Russia, as well as with employees who worked without an employment contract, said Olga Belenkaya, head of the Macroeconomic Analysis Department at Finam. She added: in addition, we are talking about violations related to employment in the service sector without a license, payment of wages in an envelope and informal part-time work.
Illegal employment is mainly concentrated in those sectors of the economy where there is a high turnover of personnel and a lot of unskilled labor, said Vladimir Chernov, analyst at Freedom Finance Global.
The main areas include construction, the service sector and the household sector (beauty salons, cleaning, repair shops), catering and retail, agriculture (seasonal and temporary hiring of people), as well as logistics and transport (delivery services), the expert added.
As specified to Izvestia in Rostrud, out of 470 thousand workers in shadow employment, 230 thousand managed to sign employment contracts. Nevertheless, this problem is broader, although the number of cases identified in the first half of the year seems large, it is not so large nationwide — less than 1% of the total workforce. In fact, there may be many more informally employed people. According to Rosstat, at the end of June 2025, almost 76.3 million people were employed in the Russian economy.
What are the risks of salaries in an envelope?
In conditions of personnel shortage, companies often resort to informal employment. Economic overheating pushes employers to circumvent regulations in order to minimize taxes and accelerate hiring. It is difficult for many companies to quickly employ a person. People are sure that it is more profitable to work without official registration — in their opinion, this way you can get more money on hand.
In addition, in recent years, many pensioners have resorted to illegal employment — from 2016 to 2024, payments to working elderly people were not indexed. This problem has been resolved since 2025: now the increase in pensions affects everyone who has gone on a well-deserved vacation, including working people, Izvestia wrote earlier.
Nevertheless, both parties — the illegally hired employee and the employer — carry risks, but the former remains the most vulnerable. An employee is not held accountable before the law, Olga Belenkaya from FG Finam reminded. However, a person is deprived of retirement savings, paid sick leave and maternity leave, said Vladimir Chernov from Freedom Finance Global. The expert added: in case of conflict with the employer, he cannot defend his rights through the labor inspectorate or the court. Besides, it's easy to fire him.
Responsibility for violations of labor relations is mainly borne by the employer. According to the legislation, the organization will have to make additional payments for unpaid taxes and cover a fine of 20% of this amount. In addition, there is a risk of being held accountable for violating the Labor Code — this will entail an administrative fine (from 50 thousand to 100 thousand rubles). If the failure to pay contributions is particularly large, the employer faces criminal liability.
Why have more illegal workers been identified in the Russian Federation?
In the first half of 2025, the economic situation for many enterprises, especially small and medium-sized businesses, has become more complicated, says Olga Belenkaya from Finam. The growth of economic activity has slowed down due to the record high key interest rate of 21% per annum, which the Bank of Russia began to reduce only in June. Over the past six months, production has decreased and costs have increased due to record high inflation in many sectors of the economy, the expert added.
In search of ways to optimize costs, some enterprises have begun to attract workers without formalizing employment or paying part of their salaries in an envelope.
In addition, the authorities have tightened immigration laws both in the country as a whole and in individual regions. For example, regional bans on foreigners working in some sectors of the economy exclude them from the official labor market, Olga Belenkaya added.
How to combat shadow employment in the Russian Federation
The country is constantly fighting illegal employment. The increase in the number of identified employees who were unofficially employed indicates that the authorities are paying closer attention to this problem, said Lyudmila Ivanova-Shvets, Associate Professor of the Basic Department of Human Resources Management at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
Now some are trying to compare the actions to eliminate shadow employment as a campaign to combat "parasitism," Anton Danilov-Danilyan, deputy chairman of Delovaya Rossiya, pointed out. He added: this is not about forced labor, but about creating transparent and safe working conditions where every employee is protected by law and has the opportunity to realize their potential.
In particular, in 2022, interdepartmental commissions were established to combat illegal employment in the regions, Rostrud added. They include representatives of the Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Tax Service and Rostrud. Commissions cannot be held accountable, but they transmit information to the State Labor Inspectorate and tax authorities for further inspections, as a result of which cases may be initiated.
Also, since this year, the register of unscrupulous employers has been launched — companies and entrepreneurs convicted of violating labor laws are included in it, Andrei Glushkin, a member of the council of the MRO Delovaya Rossiya, recalled. As of August 18, this list already includes about 294 companies and individual entrepreneurs.
This tool makes shadow schemes less attractive, because reputational costs for businesses increase — potential employees and partners can check the employer using an open registry, the specialist recalled. In addition, these organizations are losing government support.
According to Andrey Glushkin, the strengthening of state control is gradually making shadow hiring schemes less profitable. However, gray employment is unlikely to be completely eliminated in the near future, as it is too closely related to the specifics of the Russian labor market.
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