Putin reported about 30 million people of shadow workforce

Uncounted by statisticians and invisible to tax collectors, about 30 million people plies its trade in the nooks and crannies of what’s become known as the “garage economy.” There, professions such as mechanics, builders, dentists and veterinarians conduct their business off-the-books and in cash. Russian President Vladimir Putin is zeroing in on the phenomenon, said two participants in a recent Kremlin meeting on economic policy.

Putin asked the “serious, bespectacled” lot in front of him to devise a way to ferret out the businesses and motivate them to legalize their operations, Bloomberg reports with reference to the participants of the meeting.

About 30 million, or 40% of the economically active population of 76.5 million, are part of the “shadow” labor market at various points throughout the year, according to a survey published this month by the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.