Ukrainian government: 8 million Ukrainians are working in the shadow economy
During an interview with Radio Liberty, the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Andriy Reva, said that to date, 8 million people are working in the "shadow" sector of the economy. According to him, one of the goals of pension reform is to eliminate the informal economy in Ukraine.
"Today, according to our estimates, 8 million people work in the "shadow" sector of the economy and have no incentive to go legal. When we change the rules of pension provision and allow for retirement at 60, as of next year, there will be a minimum insurance record of service of 25 years, instead of 15, it will force many of those who are now working in the "shadow" to rethink their situation and put the question of legalization point-blank to their employer," the Minister said.
He also said that the full powers of local government bodies have been expanded, in particular, in the sphere of labor regulations and efforts to combat "shadow" employment in general.
"We have heard a lot of apocalyptic predictions that, supposedly, our minimum salary would lead to more "shadowing" and those sorts of things. But in fact, from January 1st until now, the number of superannuation contribution payers has increased by 362,000 additional people,” Reva says.
Ukraine was among the top 5 countries with the biggest shadow economy, according to a study of the International Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, dedicated to assessing and forecasting the development of the global shadow economy.