In the next two months, state employees will have their salaries indexed: who and how much will be added

“This is a kind of compensation for the loss of the national currency”

January of the new year is coming to an end, and nothing is heard about the indexation of salaries for state employees, which used to be regularly carried out at the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, in November 2022, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that wages in 2023 would grow by about 8%. Officials should send the first reports on the measures taken in this direction to the head of state by the end of March. When and who should expect an increase? And where did the figure of 8%, which does not correspond to current inflation, come from? Experts told about this and many other things for MK.

In our country, about 14 million citizens work in the public sector – these are teachers, medical personnel, employees of public institutions (museums, libraries, organizations of additional education, etc.). Their salaries, among other things, depend on the size of the minimum wage – as you know, it has been increased from January 1, 2023 to 17 thousand rubles. But when will wages rise?

Artem Deev, head of the analytical department at AMarkets:

“It seems to me the obvious answer to the question why the indexation of salaries of state employees did not take place directly from January 1. At the end of the year, the country’s budget received a severe deficit due to lower oil prices: as a result, instead of the planned deficit of 1 trillion rubles, the lack of funds in the treasury amounted to 3.3 trillion rubles. Therefore, now the state needs time to study all issues related to the indexation of salaries and pensions (as you know, indexation for working pensioners has not been adopted again).

Regarding the indexation of salaries of state employees, I can assume that the announced parameter of 8% is a kind of average inflation rate for two years. In 2022, annual inflation was 11.9%, and by the end of the current year, according to government estimates, it may drop to 5%. Thus, state employees can count on wage indexation corresponding to the average inflation rate for the period 2022-2023.”

Pavel Sigal, First Vice President of Opora Rossii:

“The increase in wages, which was announced by the head of the Ministry of Finance, may occur within a year. 8% is a figure that correlates with the planned inflation for 2023, perhaps even slightly exceeding it. Since state employees have a basic salary component, a bonus, linked to the level of qualifications, such an increase gives a shift along the entire chain of salary payments. So the state employees will surely feel the increase. And in principle, linking to inflation when indexing wages is a common practice.”

Andrey Loboda, economist, director of communications at BitRiver:

“The indexation of salaries in the coming year, I believe, shines for all categories of state employees. Their incomes will increase in total by more than 100 billion rubles, and in two years – already by 500 billion rubles. Any indexation is a kind of compensation for the losses incurred in the purchasing value of the national currency. For several years now, global inflation has become a common trend, it covered all the key economically developed countries, and did not bypass Russia. This year, the expectation of inflation in our country is quite optimistic, it can be more than halved compared to 2022. If it is possible to curb it and keep at least a moderately strong ruble, indexation headaches will be much less. The support of the population today is very useful, and the real standard of living of state employees will certainly not sag from indexing at a rate of 8%.