Page 34 - RusRPTJul19

4.5 Labour and income
4.5.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
The unemployment rate decreased from +4.7% in April to +4.5% in May. close to its all time low level of 4.3%.
Russia’s demographic pinch is now making itself felt as the size of the workforce is shrinking and will continue to do so for several years to come.
4.5.2 Income dynamics
Nominal wages were up 8.4% in May to RUB48,510 per month. That is equivalent to an increase in real wages of 2.8%, but the all important real disposable income was down again by 2.3%, leaving the average Russian feeling poorer.
Real wages increased +2.8% y/y in May, while the growth in April was revised from +1.6% y/y to +3.1% y/y. We note that personal income tax revenues have been growing faster than the average nominal wage recently. In April, the former grew +15.8% y/y, while the latter added +8.4% y/y.
According to new data, the sharp decline in household real income in recent years was slightly less pronounced than in previous years. The picture of the real development of expenditure on purchases of goods and services also improved slightly. However, data on the nominal level of purchases in 2013–2018 jumped by as much as 7%, which may later lead to an increase in data on household consumption and GDP.
Rosstat has not yet published data on items of household expenditure on items produced by the new statistical method. In the light of the changes made to the statistics, it would appear that the level of expenditure has been raised, among other things. including more information on spending on Russian foreign shopping and online shopping abroad.
34 RUSSIA Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com