From 2021, the minimum wage (minimum wage) in Russia will grow faster than the cost of living.
This was announced on Tuesday, October 6, by the country's labor and social protection minister Anton Kotyakov.
According to him, with the new calculation methodology, both indicators will be calculated separately and will no longer depend on each other.
“From 2021, these two values will be torn apart.
At the same time, our minimum wage will be slightly higher than the subsistence minimum of the working-age population.
In 2021, this is about 90 rubles, in 2022 this amount already reaches almost 500 rubles.
That is, our indicators of growth in the minimum wage will be higher than the cost of living.
This, of course, is one of the tools for fighting poverty, "Kotyakov said at a meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Social Policy.
Earlier, the Russian government approved and submitted to the State Duma a bill to change the methodology for calculating the minimum wage and living wage.
As follows from the document, from January 1, 2021, the minimum wage level will increase from the current 12,130 to 12,792 rubles.
Note that at present the minimum wage in Russia directly depends on the subsistence minimum.
So, according to the law, the minimum wage is set at an amount not lower than the subsistence minimum for the second quarter of the previous year.
If the cost of living for this period was lower than the same indicator last year, the minimum wage does not change.
In the new approach, the minimum wage will be calculated on the basis of the median wage - the value at which 50% of citizens receive more than this level, and the other half of the workers - less.
According to Rosstat, in 2019, the median per capita income in Russia was 26 365 rubles.
From 2021, the minimum wage will be 42% of the median salary.
As a result, starting next year, the level of minimum wages in Russia will automatically increase with an increase in wages.
Such a concept will ensure a faster growth of incomes of the population, believes the head of the analytical department of AMarkets Artem Deev.
“Already in 2021, the government plans to ensure the growth of wages in the country by 2.5%.
At the same time, the authorities intend to change the approach to the formation of a living wage, which will also have a positive effect on the incomes of Russians.
Now the median salary is almost three times higher than the cost of the consumer basket, "Deev said in a conversation with RT.
As Anton Kotyakov noted, today the living wage is understated by 5–36% in 61 of 85 regions of Russia.
This state of affairs increases social inequality between the regions, the minister is sure.
“In some regions, the understatement of the subsistence minimum by 30%, it says one thing - we are underfunding people even the minimum set of what they should have to ensure their daily life,” - said the head of the Ministry of Labor.
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Today the value of the subsistence minimum is calculated quarterly in Russia as a whole and in each region separately, based on the consumer basket.
We are talking about the minimum set of food products, as well as non-food products and services necessary to preserve human health and ensure his life.
Meanwhile, at the moment, the methodology for compiling the consumer basket is outdated and requires revision.
Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma committee on labor, social policy and veterans affairs, expressed this point of view in an interview with RT.
According to her, the parameters of the basket do not take into account modern realities and the needs of Russians, such as paying for mobile communications, the Internet and other means of communication.
“In general, the new approach to calculating these indicators can really be considered a working tool for fighting poverty, since it is already tied to income distribution, and not just to inflation.
As a result, with an increase in the welfare of workers, the poverty line will rise, which will increase the standard of living of all segments of the population, ”the deputy stressed.
It is noteworthy that the change in the calculation method and the subsequent increase in the amount of social benefits should accelerate the recovery of domestic demand, which has noticeably sagged during the pandemic.
Leading analyst at Forex Optimum Ivan Kapustyansky told RT about this.
“The initiative will require 133.6 billion rubles in 2021, and in subsequent years, budget expenditures will only increase.
However, these funds will be allocated to the poorest segments of the population, who have serious unmet demand and low savings.
As a result, this money will return to the economy, but not as government spending, but as consumer spending by Russians, ”the expert concluded.