Methodological approach to assessment of informal employment in Russia

The article provides a brief analysis of the level of informal employment in Russia. We present a methodological approach to assessing informal employment of the population based on the data from tax authorities, statistical consolidated indicators, and indirect indicators of the off-the-books economy. The proposed methods made it possible to assess tax losses from informal employment in Russia and Zabaykalsky Krai. The study confirms that finding the methods for assessing the scale of informal employment is relevant due to a decrease in the income producing potential of budgets of various levels (personal income tax losses negatively affects the budgets of the regional and local levels), and the lack of social guarantees for informal employment. Therefore, the state is interested in finding the best methods for assessing the scale of informal employment and measures to counter it.