Two thirds of citizens complained about financial difficulties

These conclusions were reached by experts from the Center for Civil Society and Commercial Sector Research at the Higher School of Economics based on a sociological survey.

As noted by RBC, 69% of Russians say they are experiencing financial difficulties; at the same time, every fourth (24%) hopes that their financial situation will improve in the near future, while last year only every tenth thought so.

Of the 2,000 people who took part in the survey, only 29%, or less than a third of the respondents, reported that a family's monthly income can easily meet basic needs.

Moreover, more than two-thirds (69%) complain about a poor financial situation. The worst situation is for people of pre-retirement and retirement age (51–65 years), as well as residents of villages.

Compared to the "pandemic" year 2020, the situation with the material situation of citizens has only worsened: the worsening of their financial situation was reported by 3 percentage points more respondents than a year earlier.

At the same time, not all citizens have optimism associated with a possible improvement in the situation in the economy. If in 2019 26% of respondents expressed hope for a financial improvement, now their share has dropped to 24%. However, it should be noted that at the height of the 2020 lockdown, the share of optimists was only 10% of the total number of respondents.

Experts believe that the growth of optimistic sentiments in society is due to the fact that over the year many people have managed to adapt to the changed environment. The sectors hit hardest by the pandemic have seen a drop in employment. At the same time, vacancies were opened in other areas. Those who managed to reorient themselves in time and change their specialization to a more demanded one, look to the future with more noticeable optimism.

In a number of industries, vacancies were opened for the local population, which were previously occupied by migrants. It should be noted that employers experiencing staff shortages due to the outflow of guest workers were forced to raise salaries in such a way as to interest the local population. The strongest growth in salaries occurred in construction, where salaries rose by 13% over the year, which is significantly higher than the level of official inflation.

The problem, however, is that salary increases have not occurred in all sectors. And many Russians have felt the deterioration in the financial situation of their families against the background of the rapid rise in prices. Having not received the expected help from employers, many citizens turned around with requests for help from the state, suggesting that in the current situation this is the last institution they can hope for.