Page 50 - RusRPTDec23

4.5.2 Income dynamics
The rapid growth of wages in Russia, caused by a sharp shortage of workers due to war and mobilization, has ended, writes RBC.
Official statistics clearly indicate this. In September, real wages grew by 7.2% in annual terms against 9.5% in August, nominal accrued wages by 13.6% against 15.1% a month earlier. The unemployment rate is at a historical low of 2.9%.
According to the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, in 2024–2026, real wages will grow by 2.5% per year, nominal wages by 7.7%.
What's the matter In conditions of a total labor shortage, companies are forced to switch from head hunting to hand hunting (“hunting for hands”), that is, luring workers away with salaries without modernizing production, says Elena Varshavskaya, a professor at the Department of organisational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the Higher School of Business at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
As a result, “scissors” emerged between stagnant labour productivity and rising money prices, and the wage race quickly hit physical limits. In addition to the key rate, the resources of enterprises are depleted by the weakening of the ruble, increased costs of logistics and the costs of parallel imports.
50 RUSSIA Country Report December 2023 www.intellinews.com