In Russia, nearly half of all companies engage in shadow economic activities
The labor market in Russia continues to operate in the “shadow.” According to official Russian statistics, there were 74.6 million employed people in the country from January through May 2026, while the number of employees on the official payroll was only 44.1 million.
According to estimates by Ukrainian intelligence, the cost to an employer of retaining a full-time employee is at least 43% higher than the gross salary.
Additional costs include:
- personal income tax—ranging from 13% to 22% depending on the progressive tax scale;
- social security contributions—30% of the maximum base;
- additional contributions ranging from 0.2% to 8.5% for workers’ compensation insurance.
At the same time, working with a self-employed individual means zero insurance contributions for the company, while the contractor pays only 6% tax on professional income.
The State Security Service notes that in 2023–2025, Russian businesses were forced to retain full-time employees due to an acute labor shortage.
“In 2023–2025, an acute labor shortage forced Russian businesses to retain full-time employees, compete for them, and raise salaries,” the SZR statement reads.
However, employers are now increasingly looking for ways to reduce their tax and social security burdens by reclassifying employees as self-employed or using other forms of informal employment.
Thus, the gap between the total number of employed persons and full-time employees in Russia indicates the widespread prevalence of non-standard and potentially shadow employment. This, in turn, could lead to a decrease in tax revenues to the Russian budget.
This was reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
As a reminder, the Russian Ministry of Transport proposes collecting even more data on the movements of Russians across all major modes of transportation. Information on where a person actually traveled should be entered into the state database within 15–30 minutes after the trip ends. Russian law enforcement agencies, among others, have access to this system.
