Putin expects real wages to rise by 3-5% in 2023

By the end of 2023, the Russian authorities expect real wages to grow by 3-5%, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with workers at the Tulazheldormash plant. The growth of real disposable incomes of the population should be 2-3%.

“Well, yes, prices are rising, and salaries are not very good. It’s clear. The question is the most important. For the whole country, for any working person, this is the most key issue: the level of well-being, the level of income. And the solution of this problem is key for the state,” the head of state said, answering a question from Alexander Kazakov, an employee of the enterprise.

The President recalled that in 2022 inflation in the country jumped to 17%. Wages in real terms have not kept up with the indicator.

For the period of late 2022 – early 2023, the indicators began to gradually level off: real wages began to rise by 0.3-0.6%. Real disposable income – by about 0.9%. The indicators should grow more noticeably at the end of the whole year.

“Why am I talking about this? Because we have a completely different inflation rate. Peak inflation was 17%. According to the results of March this year, it will most likely be less than 4%. And it has a downward trend. The rise in prices is slowing down, which means that the real incomes of citizens should grow,” the president concluded.

At the same time, the head of state made a reservation that the announced indicators are averaged, therefore, in some places the situation may differ somewhat from the voiced one. The growth of incomes, according to the head of state, should be stimulated by the situation in the labor market.

“As you know, we now have a historically low unemployment rate of 3.6%. By the way, this is also one of the factors that should push up the increase in wages, because there is competition in the economy for qualified personnel. That is, there is a struggle not for getting a job, but for an employee,” the president told the workers.

Grigory Leiba