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Informal Employment in Russia: Incidence, Determinants and Labor Market Segmentation

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  • H. Lehmann
  • A. Zaiceva

Abstract

This paper takes stock of informal employment in Russia analyzing its incidence and determinants. Using the regular waves and an informality supplement of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) it develops several measures of informal employment and demonstrates that the incidence varies widely across the different definitions. We also show that the determinants of informal employment are roughly stable across the different measures: workers who are males, relatively young, unskilled and employed in construction and trade and related services have a higher likelihood to have an informal job. We also take a look at the issue of labor market segmentation along the informal-formal divide by estimating an informal-formal wage gap at the means and across the entire wage distributions. We find only weak evidence for labor market segmentation in Russia when estimating an informal-formal wage gap for salaried workers at the mean. The results of quantile regressions show a wage penalty in the lower half of the distribution and no gap in the upper half for informal employees. In contrast, informal self-employed and entrepreneurs have conditional mean wages that are higher than the mean wages for the formally employed. Across the entire wage distribution, however, we find a negative wage gap in the lowest quartile and a strongly positive wage gap in the highest quartile, pointing to a segmented informal sector with a lower free entry tier and an upper rationed tier.

Suggested Citation

  • H. Lehmann & A. Zaiceva, 2013. "Informal Employment in Russia: Incidence, Determinants and Labor Market Segmentation," Working Papers wp903, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
  • Handle: RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp903
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lehmann, Hartmut & Pignatti, Norberto, 2018. "Informal employment relationships and the labor market: Is there segmentation in Ukraine?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 838-857.
    3. Liwiński, Jacek, 2021. "Informal employment and wages in Poland," GLO Discussion Paper Series 804, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Duman, Anil & Duman, Alper, 2021. "The More the Gloomier: development of informal employment and its effect on wages in Turkey," GLO Discussion Paper Series 870, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    5. Anita Staneva & G Arabsheibani, 2014. "Is there an informal employment wage premium? Evidence from Tajikistan," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-24, December.
    6. Hartmut Lehmann, 2015. "Informal Employment in Transition Countries: Empirical Evidence and Research Challenges," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 57(1), pages 1-30, March.
    7. Gustavo A. García, 2017. "Labor Informality: Choice or Sign of Segmentation? A Quantile Regression Approach at the Regional Level for Colombia," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 985-1017, November.
    8. Mirkasimov, Bakhrom & Ahunov, Muzaffar, 2017. "Labor markets and informality: the case of Central Asia," MPRA Paper 78751, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Duman, Anil, 2020. "Pay Gaps and Mobility for Lower and Upper Tier Informal Sector Employees: an investigation of the Turkish labor market," GLO Discussion Paper Series 655, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Sahoo, Bimal & Neog, Bhaskar Jyoti, 2015. "Heterogeneity and participation in Informal employment among non-cultivator workers in India," MPRA Paper 68136, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Hartmut Lehmann & Anzelika Zaiceva, 2013. "Informal Employment in Russia: Definitions, Incidence, Determinants and Labour Market Segmentation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1098, OECD Publishing.
    12. Gashi Ardiana & Williams Colin C., 2019. "Evaluating the Prevalence and Distribution of Unregistered Employment in Kosovo: Lessons from a 2017 Survey," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 7-20, June.
    13. Lehmann, Hartmut & Zaiceva, Anzelika, 2013. "Re-defining Informal Employment and Measuring its Determinants: Evidence from Russia," IZA Discussion Papers 7844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Lilas Demmou & Andreas Wörgötter, 2015. "Boosting Productivity in Russia: Skills, Education and Innovation," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1189, OECD Publishing.
    15. Aysit Tansel & Halil Ibrahim Keskin & Zeynel Abidin Ozdemir, 2015. "Is There An Infırmal Employment Wage Penalty in Egypt?," ERC Working Papers 1508, ERC - Economic Research Center, Middle East Technical University, revised Sep 2015.

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    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
    • P23 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population

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