Institutional Environment of the Labor Remuneration

The problem of adequate performance of economic and social functions of labor remuneration and its compliance with the criteria of decent work is extremely relevant for Ukraine. The problem cannot be solved only by adjusting the existing and adopting new normative legal acts of labor law, since the corresponding legislative amendments must be accepted by the key parties to social and labor relations. The purpose of the article is to investigate the institutional environment in the field of labor remuneration in Ukraine in its various manifestations, to identify the most common institutional constructions, structures and practices that need correction and should become a priority object of state policy. The research was conducted using the methods of desk study. In the absence of official statistical data on the labor market and wages, indirect assessment methods were used based on available administrative data, materials of international organizations, results of sociological surveys, etc. The authors abandoned the traditional identification of institutions exclusively with formal organizations, which are mainly created by the government. The novelty is provided by the study of widespread informal institutional structures and practices, their main manifestations and socio-economic consequences. he study revealed that due to the low efficiency of controlling and punitive instruments of state regulation, several informal and implicit institutional structures have taken root in the institutional environment of the sphere of labor remuneration in addition to or instead of formal norms and rules, in particular, the shadowing of labor remuneration, labor remuneration based on individual agreements, unpaid overtime work, fictitious individual entrepreneurs, etc. Manifestations, main causes and consequences of the spread of informal practices are analysed. The impact of the full-scale military aggression against Ukraine on the labor market and labor force patterns in terms of working conditions and wages is assessed, and the risk of deepening shortage of workers for the needs of the post-war reconstruction is emphasized. The role of the government as the largest employer and the main transformations of the wage institution in the public sector are revealed. Conclusions have been made regarding the priority functions of the state in the sphere of wages, based on the need to ensure the resilience of the national economy.