Shadow boy: about 8 million Russians receive salaries in envelopes
About 8 million Russians work informally, according to analysts interviewed by Izvestia. Moreover, this figure may grow against the background of a shortage of personnel, demand for part-time work and adjustments to the tax system. Although the authorities have tightened control over the gray sector. In 2025, almost 1 million people were brought out of the shadows, Rostrud reported. This is 20% more than a year earlier. What risks are hidden in illegal employment for citizens and the economy as a whole — in the material of Izvestia.
How many Russians work informally
In 2025, the authorities removed 976,000 people from shadow employment, Rostrud told Izvestia. This is 20% more than in the previous year, when 810 thousand people were legalized.
However, the number of Russians who receive salaries in envelopes is still huge. Last year, Anton Kotyakov, the head of the Ministry of Labor, said that the potential number of citizens employed in the shadow economy is about 5 million people.
According to Rosstat, in 2024, about 15 million people worked in the illegal sector. One of the criteria for such employment is the employer's lack of state registration as a legal entity. That is, this cumulative figure includes not only those who work without official registration of employment relations, but also self-employed, individual entrepreneurs without registration of sole proprietors and their employees.
The real numbers of people employed in the gray sector may be higher than the official ones, as estimates vary greatly depending on the sample and the calculation methodology, said financial advisor and founder of Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin.
In a negative scenario, the number of illegal employees reaches 8-9 million citizens, he estimated. Alexey Chikhachev, Managing Partner of A2 HR agency, cited similar figures of 8-10 million people.
According to Anastasia Gorelkina, an expert in the field of corporate governance and personnel training, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Siberian Business Union, the number of people receiving salaries in an envelope is significantly lower — about 5.5-6 million people. But these statistics do not include those who receive part of their salary in an envelope during official employment. According to various estimates, there may be several million more, the expert said.
Why are more and more employees coming out of the shadows
The authorities are now actively fighting shadow employment and tightening control. Interdepartmental commissions have been set up in all regions to counteract the illegal sector. They include representatives of various municipal, regional and federal authorities, including Rostrud, Federal Tax Service, SFR and others.
The main tasks of the commissions are to identify cases of informal employment and take measures to legalize employees through the registration of employment contracts. This gives the employee more social and labor guarantees, for example, the right to paid leave, Rostrud explained. Consultations with companies and citizens are also underway, they added.
The state has more tools to restore order: interdepartmental mechanisms and risk-based control have been strengthened, and the institution of public pressure on unscrupulous employers is being formed, including specialized registries, said Alexey Chikhachev.
In addition, due to the shortage of personnel, companies are increasingly betting on their retention and sustainability - white paper and guarantees are becoming part of the competitive package, and schemes involving the substitution of GPH labor relations or self—employment are considered excessive regulatory risk, the expert noted.
Big data analysis (the ratio of salaries by industry and region, citizens' expenses, NGO reporting) makes it possible to more effectively identify gray schemes, said the founder of Pharma&Medical Recruitment Anastasia Malakhova. Informal hiring is becoming a source of major financial and reputational risks, which pushes for a way out of the shadows, she added.
As Izvestia previously reported, over 650 companies have already been included in the register of unscrupulous employers. For businesses, being on the list means increased attention from inspection authorities, the risk of fines and loss of access to government support.
The economy is increasingly switching to cashless payments and digital payments, and this is clearly visible not from reports, but from everyday life, said Maxim Gmyrya, founder of the Sequoia Group risk management agency and chairman of the insurance committee of the Association of Exporters and Importers.
— For people under the age of 40, cash is no longer a familiar tool — many people do not use it regularly. As generations change, the logic of envelope payments itself begins to look archaic," the expert said.
What is the danger of illegal employment for people and the economy
Some Russians accept a salary in an envelope because of short-term benefits (more money on hand), distrust of institutions, debt obligations and a banal lack of alternatives in the local labor market, Alexey Chikhachev explained.
Moreover, in the context of a shortage of personnel, one of the main trends in the labor market of the past and early this year was the growing interest of Russians in part-time work, Izvestia previously wrote. Part-time job seekers also sometimes accept a salary in envelopes, especially if they get a job without the knowledge of their main employer.
However, due to illegal work, people become legally vulnerable: it is almost impossible to protect their rights in the event of illegal dismissal, non-payment or delay of wages, or arbitrariness of the employer, said Natalia Kashirina, founder of the SPHERE & Marketing Excellence Academy.
Working in the gray sector means losing sick leave, maternity leave, insurance payments, and retirement experience, and it makes it more difficult to confirm income, obtain loans, and get a mortgage, Alexey Chikhachev pointed out. This threatens the economy with a shortage of taxes and contributions, distortion of competition and a decrease in the quality of employment, the expert concluded.
The shadow sector leads to direct budget losses, it costs up to 10% of GDP annually, Anastasia Gorelkina said. Also, according to her, the state cannot properly plan social programs when millions of citizens drop out of the tax system.
Changes in the fiscal burden, a noticeable increase in the minimum wage and the abolition of preferential insurance premiums for SMEs will complicate the further whitewashing of the economy, says Elena Kiselyova, an analyst at the Institute for Integrated Strategic Studies. As Alexey Rodin noted, there are no prerequisites for a sharp increase in illegal employment, but small businesses will keep this figure in order to avoid unnecessary burden, including documentary ones.
At the same time, the general movement is towards transparency, Maxim Gmyrya is sure. At the same time, reducing the shadow sector requires more than just control, Anastasia Malakhova said. Additional economic conditions should be created to ensure that legality is beneficial to all participants in the labor market.
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