The Ministry of Labor proposed to revise the calculation of the minimum wage and the living wage

The Ministry of Labor has submitted amendments to federal laws, allowing until 2021 to abandon the calculation of the subsistence minimum as the statistical cost of the consumption basket and define it as a part - 44.2% - of average per capita income, Kommersant reports. The minimum wage (minimum wage) until 2026 is proposed to be set at 42% of the median wage.

According to the initiative of the ministry, for citizens of working age, the subsistence minimum should be 109% of this indicator, for minors - 97%, for pensioners - 86%.

The department proposes changes, since under the current system of calculating the subsistence minimum and minimum wages, income inequality in the country will only increase. Now only in 13 regions of the country the living wage corresponds to the federal methodology, in 61 regions it is below the conditional federal “minimum consumption rate” by 4.1-36.8%.

It is proposed to increase the living wage in the regions in stages over four years. The transition from the existing "rationing system" for calculating the subsistence minimum to the global standard will cost 128.5 billion rubles in additional expenses in 2021 and 439 billion rubles in 2025.

- The peculiarities of the methodology for calculating the subsistence minimum based on the approved consumer basket lead to the fact that the subsistence minimum grows more slowly than wages and the general level of welfare of citizens. This is due to the fact that the consumer basket is calculated based on the prices for the minimum set of food products. As a rule, prices for these goods are growing slower than inflation, - Izvestia cites a message from the Ministry of Labor.

The initiative has already received government approval.

Let us recall that earlier in Russia again proposed to introduce an hourly minimum wage.