Structure of informal employment of youth in the Russian labor market

The paper presents the results of a study of the structure of informally employed Russian youth aged 16–24 and 25–29. On the basis of the approaches existing in the Russian and foreign literature, groups of informal people in the field of youth employment were distinguished. The paper contains a comparative analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of the selected groups and their social well-being due, inter alia, to the status of the informally employed. The obtained data enabled to assess the degree of satisfaction with the employment, life and material situation of the different groups of informally employed young people, to find out their attitude towards the opportunity of setting up their own business and their intention to continue vocational training. Comparison of the employment preferences, anxieties and expectations of the different groups of informally employed young people indicates that they are considerably different and highly socially heterogeneous. It is concluded that there should be more incentives for creating modern jobs and decent working conditions in the formal sector of the economy, which would bring higher returns, than increasing the legal responsibility for informally employed youth. The information base of the study is the results of the 24th wave of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – National Research University Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE).