Putin: Russia should become a “high wage economy”

The Russian economy should become an economy of high wages, President Vladimir Putin said at the SPIEF plenary meeting.

“The Russian economy must become an economy of high wages. With new requirements for the system of vocational education, with an increase in labor productivity, including through automation and new management systems, with high-quality modern jobs and working conditions,” the president said.

Putin added that, according to his estimates, the opinion that the country’s global competitiveness is being reduced due to the high cost of labor resources is no longer relevant. “Obviously, such a view was based on certain grounds, but it is becoming obsolete. Or you can say it is outdated,” the president said.

In early April, the Russian president predicted a rise in wages in 2023, when he declared about their increase by 3-5%, and real disposable income – by 2-3%. He called the growth of the population’s income “task number one” for the state.

Formerly Vedomosti wrotethat the incomes of the poorest 10% of Russians in 2022, according to Rosstat, grew six times faster than the incomes of the richest 10%. The average per capita cash income of the first group grew by 1.8% in real terms (adjusted for inflation) – up to 10,535 rubles, the last – by 0.3% to 165,695 rubles.