The Effects of the Informal Sector on Income of the Poor in Russia

May 2013, Volume 111, Issue 3, pp 855-866. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-012-0037-5

12 Pages Posted: 19 May 2012 Last revised: 30 Dec 2018

See all articles by Yuriy Timofeyev

Yuriy Timofeyev

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Date Written: April 2, 2012

Abstract

This paper clarifies the social and economic effects of employment in the informal sector on the poor in Russia in recent years. The article describes the extent to which the figures for informal sector at large and unofficial employment in particular vary in different estimates and the effect they have on the average labor income of the poor. The major impact of the research consists of the development of a universal method for the estimation of the scales of labor income of the poor in the informal sector. Using the latest available data from Russian Federal State Statistics Service, this indicator is calculated for the poor and than compared with average wages in the formal sector and the subsistence minimum (official poverty line). The study concludes that the informal sector is a factor of social stability in a postsocialist transition economy, which, however, cannot alleviate poverty.

Keywords: Informal Sector, Labor income of the poor, Russia

JEL Classification: C23, I26, I3, O17, P36

Suggested Citation

Timofeyev, Yuriy, The Effects of the Informal Sector on Income of the Poor in Russia (April 2, 2012). May 2013, Volume 111, Issue 3, pp 855-866. DOI: 10.1007/s11205-012-0037-5, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2062759

Yuriy Timofeyev (Contact Author)

National Research University Higher School of Economics ( email )

Moscow
Russia

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