Temnitskiy A.L. Resource Potential of Precarious Employees in Russia. Social Sciences. 2023. Vol. 54. No. 1. Pp. 18-31.

Abstract

This paper presents the substantiation of the precariat as a research construct developed by the researcher for a specific purpose. This conclusion is based on a generalization of the scientific discussion on the issue of precariat and is confirmed by the results of a secondary analysis of the combined data set of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey – Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE) for 1994–2020. It is focused on typological categories of precarious employees in comparison with typical employees. Based on the ratio of informal employment and duration of working hours, we have distinguished two typological categories of precarious employees (part-time and over-employed) and shown fundamental differences in their social and demographic profile. Verifying the hypothesis that precarious employees, being in obviously worse working conditions as compared to typical employees, achieve results that are important to them in terms of material well-being, is based on the development of the concept of employee's resource potential. It is based on individual and personal (age, health) and activity characteristics (confidence in employment in the labor market). We have shown that, in terms of their resource potential, precarious employees are not only not inferior to typical employees, but also surpass them, mainly due to their greater confidence in employment. Precarious employment, as compared to the typical employment, contributes largely to the formation of time-demanded business qualities, accumulation of entrepreneurial experience; as a whole, it contains a constructive potential to cope with new challenges. The results of our analysis showed that the modal group of over-employed precarious employees with informal wage practices is concentrated in the field of trade and consumer services. It is this sector of the economy, which is dominated by private businesses without the participation of the state, that requires urgent measures to bring them back to the legal field of activity.

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