Diversification of Russians’ Employment Through Self-Employment

The structural transformation of the Russian labor market accelerated by digitalization, gig economy development, and external challenges makes the population search for new, more flexible forms of employment. Self-employment has become a key driver of these changes, yet its impact on real labor behavior strategies remains insufficiently studied. This article analyzes the diversification of labor strategies among Russia's self-employed and defines the role of the self-employment regime in adaptation to the modern labor market. The study uses a mixed methodology combining macro-statistics (Federal Tax Service, Rosstat), digital footprint analysis (Google Trends), and indepth content analysis with parsing of the largest Telegram community of self-employed (over 45K messages, 966 active users), linking macro-trends with micro-level motives. The resulting analysis empirically proves that self-employment is not a single strategy but a polymotivational adaptive module forming a continuum of behavioral practices. Value-based and psychological motives dominate: 44% expressed dissatisfaction with hired labor and 35% seek autonomy, indicating a proactive shift in labor consciousness. Simultaneously, forced macroeconomic and socio-demographic factors confirm self-employment as a critical social buffer. Extensive empirical material substantiates a mass transition to the portfolio career model — dynamic management of multiple projects and income sources. Self-employment in Russia has become a systemic institutionalized phenomenon driving employment diversification, not a marginal or temporary segment. The results challenge the view that the professional income tax serves merely as a fiscal tool and indicates a need to understand it as a factor shaping new labor behavior models. This requires the state to ensure regulatory stability that will reduce vulnerability among the new selfemployed category of workers.