It became known what will result in the indexation of the minimum wage for state employees

Experts say indexation does not automatically increase income

Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma Labor Committee, made a statement that, in theory, should inspire all Russians in the civil service. According to the parliamentarian, the increase in the minimum wage in 2024 will lead to a revision of the salaries of all categories of budget employees. Meanwhile, the second does not follow automatically from the first; there is no direct relationship here.

“We will have to revise the indicators of salaries and categories, based on the fact that the salary of an employee of lower qualification cannot be higher than that of workers of average, higher qualifications,” Bessarab noted. Recall that the new minimum wage (minimum wage) will be 19,242 rubles, which is almost 3,000 more than the current value. Note that the methodology for calculating the minimum wage has changed: now the indicator depends on the median salary in the country for the previous year, and not on the consumer basket.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who spoke at SPIEF 2023 in June, about 6 million people employed in the economy receive wages below the legal minimum wage. Another 12 million people are not officially employed anywhere, they are neither unemployed nor self-employed. As for the number of state employees, according to Rosstat, there are about 20 million people. Representatives of the two largest professional groups are employed in education and healthcare: 3.6 million (14.4% of total employment) and 5.2 million (20.9%), respectively. Next come employees of public administration (1.8 million, 7.2%), social security (1.6 million, 6.6%), transport and communications (6.4%), law enforcement agencies (1 million, 4%) culture and arts (498 thousand, 2%), sciences (446 thousand, 1.8%). The “other” public sectors account for 4.1 million (16.6%) of employees.

In the situation with Svetlana Bessarab’s statement, there is a key nuance that was not mentioned by a member of the State Duma Committee on Labor. It is necessary to clearly separate two things: the indexation of the minimum wage and the indexation of the entire payroll fund (PAY). In other words, the salaries of all employees of the company. The state is solely responsible for the minimum wage. But the indexation of the payroll is a purely internal sphere of responsibility of the enterprise, at best regulated by some kind of its own regulations, the “good will” of the management, and most importantly, the presence or absence of the necessary funds. And this applies to both commercial structures and the public sector: when the size of the payroll does not grow, employers have to dodge in every possible way. In particular, by cutting incentive bonuses for individual employees, reducing their number or converting them into salaries. From a legal point of view, it is impossible to find fault with such measures.

“Purely formally, the increase in the minimum wage implies that the salaries of all categories of workers will also be increased in order to maintain differentiation in wages,” says Alexander Safonov, professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. – But if we take a closer look at how much the minimum wage was indexed this year (from January 1 by 6.3%), and how much the incomes of state employees increased over the same period, we will understand: there is no direct, linear dependence here. To maintain an appropriate level of differentiation, it is necessary to increase the payroll to the same extent as the minimum wage. This is not happening. Accordingly, statements made from high tribunes hang in the air.”

The indexation of the “minimum wage” does not entail automatic indexation of wages, while maintaining the same proportions, – explains Pavel Kudyukin, a member of the Council of the Russian Labor Confederation. According to the rules introduced in 2008, budgetary organizations in our country are authorized independently, regardless of the state, to establish schemes and amounts of remuneration. With an increase in the minimum wage, they can go to any convenient maneuver, for example, by increasing salaries, but reducing incentive payments.

“The function of the state is only one thing – to determine the minimum wage,” says Kudyukin. – And then – as the employer decides (at least at a budgetary, at least at a commercial enterprise), based on their physical capabilities. Plans have been hatched for quite a long time to create a single, unified wage system in the public sector, but so far things have not even gone as far as experiments. They wanted to start in 2020, but the covid struck. In the meantime, multi-channel financing systems operate in state organizations. For example, in healthcare, it is partly carried out from the budgets of different levels (depending on departmental subordination – federal, regional, municipal), and partly from health insurance funds. In the first case, the funds are used to maintain the material base, in the second – to pay wages.

The state has very conditional control over all this, Kudyukin sums up. On his part, there are only recommendations – in what proportion should the funds allocated according to the norms of per capita budget financing be distributed. But these are just recommendations: no one actually monitors their observance.