Rosstat recorded an increase in the number of employees under civil law contracts

Rosstat recorded an increase in the number of Russians who work under civil law contracts – over the year, the share of such employed in large enterprises increased by 0.5 percentage points, almost reaching record levels in 2021. In the face of a shortage of full-time staff, employers may try to hire employees even for individual tasks. At the same time, according to lawyers, changes in approaches to the duties of employers could make this category of contracts more attractive – companies do not need to keep military records of such employees, and it is easier to fire them.

Over the past year, the number of workers who work under civil law contracts (GPC) has increased in the Russian Federation, follows from the collection of Rosstat “The Socio-Economic Situation in Russia” for January-June this year. Their share in the total number of jobs replaced (excluding employment in small enterprises) has almost reached the 2021 figure.

According to Rosstat, in May of this year, 1.1 million people worked on the GPC – this is 3.2% of all employed, recorded by the department. Compared to May 2022, their share increased by 0.5 percentage points (by 170,000 people). Over the past five years, this figure was higher only in December 2021 – then it was 3.5%. The largest number of people employed in GPC work in the field of finance and insurance (255 thousand people), retail trade (176.8 thousand), information and communications (147 thousand), education (120 thousand) and healthcare (100 thousand) . Over the year, the list of industries with the largest number of such employees has not changed, but if for four of them the increase in their indicator was 10-20%, then the number of people employed in GPC in retail increased more than four times – from 48 thousand people.

Taking into account the fact that the previous peak of the increase in this indicator was recorded at the end of 2021, it can be assumed that one of the reasons for the increase in the number of employees at the GPC was the lack of workers. According to the Federal State Statistics Service, the unemployment rate in June of this year updated a historical low and fell to 3.1%. The increase in GPC hiring may indicate the desire of employers to hire specialists at least part-time. The situation in 2021 can also be interpreted in the same way – after the lifting of anti-epidemic restrictions, companies began to hire employees, compensating for layoffs at the beginning of the pandemic.

At the same time, factors related to the regulation of the labor market and the obligations of companies could also contribute to the growth of interest in GPC among employers. So, as Anna Ivanova, head of the labor law practice at BGP Litigation, explains, one of the reasons for the increase in the number of civil law contracts may be the increased attention of the state to the maintenance of military records by employers. “According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, companies are required to keep military records only of those employees with whom they have concluded an employment contract. Until September 2022, 95% of Russian employers did not do this at all and faced inspections and fines during partial mobilization. By transferring employees to the GPA, they seek to protect themselves by removing from the company the responsibility for notifying such an employee if he receives a summons, and also not to receive fines on company officials for violating accounting legislation, the control over compliance with which, obviously, will only be strengthened ” she says. The increase in the number of GPC agreements can also be caused by the complication for employers of the procedure for dismissing employees, says Elena Kozhemyakina, BLS managing partner: . Employees go to court for any dubious reason, and the court, in case of any clue or mistake by the employer, decides in favor of the employees.”

Since from this year employers are required to pay the same amount of insurance premiums for employees on GPC contracts as for other employees, the increase in the number of such contracts is unlikely to be caused by the desire of companies to save on payroll. At the same time, the dynamics of changes in the number of people employed in GPC does not correspond to the growth in the number of self-employed in the country – since 2019 it has been growing constantly, albeit with pauses (according to the Federal Tax Service, their number exceeded 8 million people).

Anastasia Manuylova