Precarization of youth labour as a factor in the formation of the "self-employed" group

Abstract

The article discusses the process of precarization of youth in Russia which is caused by changing of labor relations in modern economy, widespreading of non-formal practices and gig-economy. Particularly the peculiarities of the formation of a self-employed group in Russia, which is linked with new legislature and adopting new tax regime for professional activity. The legislative framework and statistical data are analyzed, which allow us to identify trends in the formation of this group, describe disadvantages of new regime and to state that intensive growth of the self-employed layer is not expected in the near future. Based on empirical data obtained during quantitative (all-Russian survey) and qualitative (focus group interviews) sociological studies, the main risks of precarization of the self-employed group are identified: unstable employment, unemployment, low incomes, lack of social guarantees, mismatch of qualifications and education to work, etc. It was exposed that according their professional and labor orientations and strategies group of self-employment is very close to the group of individual entrepreneurs, which let us consider them as potential social base to stratum of entrepreneurs. The specifics of precarization of young people associated with the vulnerability of their economic and social status at the beginning of their career, the directions of their life strategies and ideas about the prospects of economic and political development in the country are shown. The data on the individual social fears of the respondents and interviewees allow us to conclude that self-employment based on forced and voluntary grounds leads to the construction of different life strategies and labor practices, which also correlates with the spheres of employment.