Page 37 - RusRPTJune18

4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Unemployment fell slightly in April to 4.9% and remains at historic lows
4.5.2 Income dynamics
Real wage and income growth remain solid in April . As expected, the flash estimate of wage growth in March was revised upwards from 6.5% y/y to 8.7% y/y in real terms, and the estimate for April stands at 7.8% y/y.
Real disposable income grew steadily for the third month in the row,
accelerating from 4.5% y/y to 5.7% y/y currently. However, analysts believe that this uptick is mainly driven by one-off events and will taper off later into the year, coming closer to 3% y/y.
The number of Russians with incomes below the subsistence minimum in 2017 amounted to 19.3mn people, or 13.2% of the population, according to Rosstat. Compared to 2016, the number of poor Russians has changed insignificantly: in that year, incomes below the subsistence level were in 19.5mn people, or 13.3%. The smallest share of the poor was in the fourth quarter of 2017 - 9.9%, or 14.5mn people, the highest - in the I quarter of 2016 - 16%, or 23.4mn. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the subsistence minimum for the entire population was RUB9786. Since May 1, 2018, the minimum wage was equal to the subsistence level of the able-bodied population for the second quarter of last year and now amounts to RUB11,163.
According to preliminary data of Rosstat for 2017, the poverty level increased in 44 regions out of 71 . Poverty declined in 22 subjects, in another five it remained at the level of the previous year. At the same time, the geography of changes is not uniform. Thus, the share of the population with
37 RUSSIA Country Report June 2018 www.intellinews.com