Labor Relations in Russia: Moving to a "Market Social Contract"?

The paper analyzes contemporary labor relations in Russia as constituting a distinctive market social contract. Focusing on market and state policy, labor law, and tripartism, we show how the state has been balancing needs for social stability and labor market efficiency. To promote stability it protects employment security and prohibits collective protest; to promote efficiency it accommodates pressures for labor market flexibility by tolerating informality. Surveys conducted over the years 2007-2013 provide some evidence about behaviors, strategies, and attitudes of managers, workers, and state officials. The state has so far managed labor market tensions, but it has done so inefficiently. The current economic crisis demands new policy responses.