Lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to raise Russia's minimum wage

ChrisD(RJ) chrisd at russiajournal.com
Sun Apr 21 23:10:11 PDT 2002


Lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to raise Russia's minimum wage

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian lawmakers voted to raise the country's monthly minimum wage Friday from 300 rubles (dlrs 9.68) to 500 rubles (dlrs 16.13).

The Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, passed the measure by a landslide 413 to 0 with 2 abstentions. It will take effect May 1.

The Duma also raised the minimum benefits for temporary worker compensation for illness or injury from 100 rubles (dlrs 3.23) to 150 rubles (dlrs 4.84) per month.

Nearly all Russians earn more than the minimum wage, but it is used as an important baseline for government budget calculations and to determine some fines.

Is that 500 rubles a MONTH? And workman/s comp is 150/mo? How much is the cheapest decent apartment/mo? Also, how do Russians get healthcare? Is it one system or many systems, ie, private insure, employer related insure, charity, like US? --------------------------------- Yes, it is the monthly minimum wage. But as the story points out, very few people earn that little. It's used mainly for calculating fines and so forth -- like running a red light might cost 1.5 x the minimum wage.

Healthcare exists in public and private forms. Public health care is free, though you may be expected to leave a gratuity for the doctor (the operation on my lower jaw cost me a wopping 10 bucks). Private health care is much better but well beyond the puying power of most people. You can get employer-related health insurance, but that presupposes that your employer is 100% legit and is reporting you as a full-time employee entitled to benefits to the government, which is quite often not the case.

The apartment issue is complicated. Many if not most Russians own their own apartments, which were privatized back in the early 90s and is also one reason why there is no mass homelessness -- no rent! My big three-room Stalin apartment in northeast Moscow costs me $200 a month, but that's because I'm renting a friend's old place. If I weren't renting from friends, it would cost probably $500-$600 (average monthly income in Moscow is probably about $300-$500). (Stalin apartments, by the way, are Da Bomb. Everybody wants a Stalin apartment.)

Chris Doss The Russia Journal



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