TY  - JOUR
TI  - Informal Employment during Crises: Analysis of Labour Force Flows in the Russian Labour Market
T2  - HSE Economic Journal 
IS  - HSE Economic Journal 
KW  - informal employment
KW  - labour market
KW  - Russia
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - sanctions
KW  - world financial crisis
KW  - economic cycle
AB  - This article for the first time addresses the issue of labour flows in the Russian labour market directed to and from the state of informal employment in 2007-2023, allowing to clarify the reaction of informal employment to the deterioration of the macroeconomic context of various types - global financial crisis in 2008-2010, the introduction of foreign sanctions in 2014 and 2022, as well as COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. The results obtained indicate that informal workers do lose their jobs more often than formal workers during economic crises, but informality can also act as an important adjustment mechanism for Russian labour market. Neither the first "sanctions shock" of 2014-2015 nor the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in the rate of transition of informal workers to out of labour force state. The rates of transition from unemployment and out of labour force state to informal employment also fell much less in 2020 than corresponding flows from unemployment/out of labour force state to formal employment. At the same time, the second "sanctions shock" of 2022-2023 was accompanied by a reduction in the rates of transition to unemployment regardless of the type of previous employment, an in crease in the rates of formal employment after unemployment, and a reduction in the rates of in­ formal employment, which, apparently, reflects increased demand for labour from the corporate sector. The response of labour flows during the world financial crisis, on the contrary, demonstrates a significant reduction in the likelihood of employment in informal jobs. It corresponds with the findings of previous studies on the Russian labour market, which revealed significant drop in the hiring rates of informal workers in 2008-2010 in the non-tradable sectors of the economy.
AU  - Anna Zudina
UR  - https://ej.hse.ru/en/2024-28-4/995800738.html
PY  - 2024
SP  - 565-586
VL  - 28