Page 34 - RusRPTApr19

4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Unemployment remains suppressed and the labour market tight. Russia ended 2018 with 4.8% unemployment where it is likely to remain for most of this year.
4.5.2 Income dynamics
The Russian government will start to reduce the number of state employees and raise wages to a competitive level in 2020, First Deputy Finance Minister Tatyana Nesterenko said in a speech to the Federal Treasury on March 19. She said that the number of regional governments’ employees will be cut by 5% in 2020, by 10% in 2021, and the number of the staff of the federal government by 10% over the two years. “We are doing this to find the resources to change the wage system,” Nesterenko said.
The real size of the average pension (adjusted for inflation) in January 2019 increased by 0.8% compared with January of last year, according to Rosstat. The average size of pensions in January amounted to RUB14,102 ($214.5), it grew over the year by 5.8%. This is 34.3% of the average salary before personal income tax retention. At the end of 2018, pensions of non- working pensioners were indexed by 7.05% (the average increase was 1000) due to pension reform with inflation of 4.3%. In 2018, the average pension amounted to RUB13 360. Compared to the previous year, it increased by 3.7%, and taking into account the lump sum payment to pensioners of RUB5,000 in January 2017 - by 0.4%. However, according to the results of 2018, the real size of pensions grew only by 0.8%, and taking into account essential payment, it even decreased by 2.4%. In 2019, the authorities, on instructions from President Vladimir Putin, will change the procedure for calculating the social supplement for pensions, which brings payments to non- working pensioners to a living wage. As a result of this measure, poor pensioners should win. If earlier the size of the supplement was determined on the basis of the difference between the indexed pension and the subsistence minimum of the pensioner, now it will not depend on indexation.
34 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com