Informal employment: assessment of the role of international cooperation and impact factors

Informal employment, which is labor activity without official registration and corresponding tax and social contributions, causes serious challenges to economic stability, social justice, and sustainable development, affecting social protection systems, budgetary resources, and equality in the labor market. The purpose of the study is to improve the understanding of aspects of countering informal employment and to investigate the factors affecting informal employment. Methods of the study are comparative analysis, multiple regression analysis, differentiated difference method, logical method, induction and deduction, systematization, and graphical method. The information base of the study consists of data from the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). It is established that international cooperation in countering informal employment, taking the example of EU countries, has not yielded significant results in achieving its goals. We have determined that the level of GDP per capita, as well as the indicator of the share of people employed in the service sector, are negatively correlated with the level of informal employment. In addition, we found that in countries with a more active community of online freelancers, the level of informal employment is generally lower. The results of the study contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of combating informal employment and can also serve as a source of information for the development and implementation of policies aimed at countering this phenomenon. The work can also be the basis for further research on the relationship of informal employment with indicators such as unemployment, the proportion of people employed in online freelancing, and other indicators.