The research materials summarize the causes and socio-ethical consequences of the shadow economy in general and shadow employment in particular. The main goal of the study is to determine the significance of the socio-ethical consequences of shadow employment for the population and economic development of Ukraine. Systematization of literary sources and approaches to solving the problem has shown that the very attempt to define the concept of the "shadow" economy undoubtedly causes many problems, since it has many definitions and various meanings, and the spectrum of consequences extends to both individual employees and employers and the people of the country as a whole. The relevance of solving this scientific problem lies in the fact that the study of life trajectories leading to shadow employment and its socio-ethical consequences will allow developing and taking certain actions to reduce the scale of informal employment from the moment of choosing an educational path to the formation of civic consciousness and morality of using all legal opportunities to receive a high level of income. Analysis of shadow economic activity gives grounds to assert that the informal and hidden economy not only has negative consequences, but also serves as a kind of shock absorber in solving socio-economic problems: it forms a layer of entrepreneurs, affects the accumulation of free funds, creates conditions for self-employment and additional employment. It has been studied that the shadow economy is part of social production, producing a certain part of GDP and it is in it that income is created for a wide segment of the population, which creates an additional share of consumer demand. The study of varieties of "shadow" schemes and the amounts of extra-budgetary income makes it possible to propose corrective measures to reduce them when the country emerges from the crisis, since today the motives of personal enrichment prevail over civic duties. The object of the study was chosen to be the causes and consequences of shadow employment in Ukraine. The results of the study may be useful for forming a national model of combating the shadow economy by influencing the formation of professional expediency and motivation for legal work.