The minimum wage in Ukraine is greater than in Russia
Starting from October 1, Ukraine, the minimum wage level has been increased from 525 UAH. up to 545 UAH This is provided for by the Law “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2008 and on amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine.”
In 2008, the minimum wage increased from January 1 – up to 515 UAH., From April 1 – up to 525 UAH., From October 1 – up to 545 UAH. The next increase in the minimum wage to 605 UAH. scheduled for December 1st.
Recall, according to the draft law “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2009”, from January 1, 2009, it is planned to set the minimum wage at the cost of living for able-bodied people. So, the salary of the employee of the first tariff category of the Unified tariff grid for public sector employees is set at 630 UAH.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine by the draft State Budget 2009 introduces two different minimum wages. This was announced today at a press conference by the First Deputy Chairman of the JV, Presidential Representative in the Cabinet of Ministers Alexander Shlapak.
The draft state budget provides that from January 1, 2009, the minimum wage is equal to the cost of living. At the same time, for the purpose of calculating salaries on a single tariff scale, other salaries are being introduced.
From January 1, for the I category of the single tariff grid, the salary will be 630 UAH., While the minimum wage throughout the economy is 770 UAH. Thus, the fact of getting a whole category of our citizens salaries below the minimum is legitimized.
This situation will exist until February 1, 2009, when the salary of I category employees on the ETS is equal to the minimum wage at the level of 807 UAH.
The minimum wage in Russia will grow by almost 2 times
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law to increase the minimum wage from January 1, 2009 to 4,330 rubles against the current 2,300 rubles, the Kremlin’s press service said.
Such a minimum wage corresponds to the subsistence minimum for the fourth quarter of 2007, established by a decree of the government of the Russian Federation for the able-bodied population.
The federal law on raising the minimum wage was adopted by the State Duma on June 11, 2008 and approved by the Federation Council on June 18.
For the implementation of this law in 2009, it is necessary to provide an additional 30 billion rubles in the federal budget and 90 billion rubles in the regional budgets.
The Moscow region is among 14 regions where the minimum wage exceeded the cost of living. This was announced at a meeting of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions by State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov. Starting May 1, 2008, the minimum wage in the Moscow Region will be 6,000 rubles. In the Central Federal District, only two entities (Moscow and Moscow Region) reached an indicator above the subsistence level.
To date, only 14 constituent entities of the Russian Federation have exercised the right to determine a higher minimum wage. Currently, at the federal level, it corresponds to the rate of the first category of the Unified Tariff Schedule – 2300 rubles. In the Moscow region from September 1, 2007 its size was increased to 2400 rubles.
Also on December 17, 2007, an agreement was signed between the Government of the Moscow Region, the regional association of trade union organizations and the association of employers to establish in the Moscow Region the minimum wage starting May 1, 2008 in the amount of 6,000 rubles.
At present, it exceeds the regional cost of living by 1000 rubles, which in the fourth quarter of 2007 amounted to 4999 rubles for the able-bodied population.
The minimum wage in Russia will not catch up with the cost of living even in 2009
Six and a half million Russians who earn less than two thousand rubles a month will have to say goodbye with the hope of an early salary increase.
The initially planned increase in the minimum wage on May 1 this year, the State Duma deputies decided to postpone to September.
– We agree that the minimum wage should be equal to the cost of living. We believe that the growth rate will be quite rapid if the minimum wage is doubled. However, this process should not be accelerated too much, as this path resembles a gamble. Indeed, in this case, there may be irreversible destructive consequences for a number of organizations, enterprises and farms that are not ready for such a radical step, ”the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy Andrei Isaev substantiated the position of the Duma majority.
As a result, deputies voted to increase the minimum wage from September 1 to 2300 rubles.
If you have never been to the theater of the absurd – do not be discouraged. Watch a television report from a meeting of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. By the degree of absurdity, the statements of the people’s representatives will often give one hundred points ahead of any classics of this genre.
What kind of “pace” does the head of the committee consider swift? Raising the minimum wage from the current 1,100 rubles to 2,300 rubles from September 1? Is he serious or is he mocking? Even the poor Russian living wage, which MP Valentina Savostyanova, a member of the same committee, described “Your Day” as a “concentration camp minimum,” according to the Ministry of Finance, this year will amount to 4414 rubles. Consequently, even after the “rapid increase” the minimum wage will be almost a widow below the subsistence level.
And the minimum is therefore called that because it does not even provide life, but only physiological survival. Everything below him is death. Well, isn’t it an absurdity to set a salary that is half as much as required so as not to die from poverty, and even call it a “rapid increase” ?!
Deputies, however, cannot be blamed for incompetence. They, as we see, “agree that the minimum wage should be equal to the cost of living.” However, they should be equalized, in the opinion of the people’s representatives, not now. And with a delay. By 2009, when the State Duma recommends that the government set a minimum wage of … 4300 rubles.
The cost of living in Russia is increasing by an average of 15 percent annually. It turns out that by 2009 it will be at least 5100 rubles. And the deputies suggest two years later to raise the minimum wage to a level below the subsistence level of this year! Wow “fast pace”!
“Such an increase cannot be called acceptable,” said MP Valentina Savostyanova. Not only is the minimum wage set at half the cost of living per person. So for this salary, many people also need children to support. What improvement in the demographic situation can one talk about ?!
Indeed, if anything is happening rapidly in Russia, it is the extinction of the population – 800 thousand people annually. And primarily because of poverty. So while with the light hand of the Duma majority, the salary is so “rapidly” catching up with the minimum wage, a significant part of the poor Russians are dying even more rapidly. And without waiting until when their earnings can really be called a salary, not a mockery. But such social consequences of the Duma majority, apparently, are not scary.
The minimum wage in Latvia will increase to 4,000 kroons
The Latvian government has decided to raise from January 1, 2009 the minimum monthly wage to 180 lats, which is 20 lats higher than the previous level.
Currently, the minimum wage in Latvia is LVL 160.
The Latvian government justified the increase in the minimum wage by the desire to improve the standard of living of people and inflict another blow on salaries in envelopes.
In Estonia, the minimum wage is currently 4350 kroons per month, and Lithuania – 800 litas (3624 kroons).
Minimum wage in Estonia will not increase much
The leadership of the Estonian Central Union of Trade Unions (EAKL) decided to speak in bilateral negotiations with the Central Employers Union with a proposal to establish a minimum wage for 2009 of 5250 kroons or 31.40 kroons per hour.
Thus, the trade unions are proposing to increase the minimum wage by 900 kroons from the current 4350 kroons. EAKL believes that it is imperative to continue to increase the minimum wage at an accelerated pace, at the same pace as the average wage in the country is growing – unions have been following this principle for more than a decade, Postimees reports. Unions and employers have signed minimum wage agreements since 2001.
Although negotiations have not yet begun, this year we can only dream of an increase in the minimum wage, which was about twenty percent in the previous two years.
Although the state, in its calculations for the next year, proceeded from a minimum wage of more than 5,000 kroons, according to employers, it is not even worth talking about such an amount.
“She won’t grow to exactly CZK 5,000,” said Tarmo Criis, head of the Central Council of Employers. “Maybe a 5 percent increase would be acceptable. If you take a sober approach, then the growth of the minimum wage should be of the same order as the rise in price of life, ”Kriis suggested.
Restore balance
According to the forecast of the Ministry of Finance, next year, life will go up by six percent, which would mean that the minimum wage from the current 4350 kroons would increase to 4600–4700 kroons.
Until now, according to Kriisa, the minimum wage has followed the dynamics of the average, and last year even outstripped it in terms of growth. “But when it is evident on the labor market that the number of reduced ones is growing, one should try to find an agreement that would not create an additional burden on the business,” he said.
Meelis Wirkebau, head of the Union of Textile and Clothing Manufacturers, noted that for most enterprises, a five to ten percent increase in the minimum wage would be acceptable. “In this case, both the wolves would be well fed and the sheep safe,” he pointed out to the interests of employers and trade unions.
According to Wirkebau, in recent years, entrepreneurs have had to raise salaries faster than productivity has grown. Now it’s time to restore balance.
“In fact, nobody really gets the minimum wage. But the proportions between those who perform complex and simple work must be maintained. If the minimum wage grows too much, the small gap will not stimulate people to rise to the next level, ”explained Wirkebau.
Unions said they would be ready to make their demands for a minimum wage in only a week. Before that, they want to listen to all opinions and study the forecast of the Ministry of Finance. They are sure of one thing: the minimum wage should grow faster than the average. According to forecasts of the Ministry of Finance, next year it will grow by 7.5 percent.
The trade unions were ready to fight for the five thousandth minimum wage as early as last August, but then they limited their requirements to 4,500 kroons. By the end of 2007, it was possible to agree on a new minimum for 2008 of 4350 kroons. Last year, the minimum wage was only 3,600 kroons.
According to trade union leader Harry Talig, this time they intend to take into account that the situation of entrepreneurs is difficult, but, in his opinion, people should not be forgotten. “The cost of food and housing increased, which most affected the low-paid workers,” Taliga said.
No exact numbers
How many people in Estonia receive the minimum wage, according to Talig, no one knows, since officially there are no such statistics. “If we look at the data of the Tax Department, then in the first half of last year, 3,600 kroons (the minimum wage in 2007. – Ed.) Received 100,000 people, and in some months even 120,000,” Taliga emphasized.
“Those who were sick or on vacation, or worked part-time, could get into this number, but these numbers show that they are not six percent, according to the Department of Statistics, but much more,” Taliga continued.
According to him, in Estonia there are still many who have a basic salary equal to the minimum, and the rest is paid in the form of surcharges or bonuses based on sales results.
Chrijs agrees that the minimum wage level is affecting many workers in one way or another. “But when the minimum wage rises, then it shifts all other, higher salary levels,” said Kriis. – Moreover, the indirect influence is stronger than the direct one. I think that this directly affects the income of twenty thousand workers. Not more”.
Moldovan employers still pay the lowest salaries in Europe
Moldovan employers still pay workers the lowest wages in Europe. According to the classification by the Federation of European Employers (FedEE), the minimum wage of Moldovan workers is only 46.29 euros per month, which is almost 34 times less than the salaries of Luxembourg workers, where the highest salaries are in Europe.
Slightly higher than in Moldova, salaries in Montenegro – 55 euros and Ukraine – 68.21 euros. In Romania, the minimum wage exceeds 140 euros.
In developing the classifier, FedEE took into account the remuneration of workers for a full-time job for people over 23 years old. As of January 1, 2007, the minimum wage in Moldova was 766.1 lei.
The FedEE study covered 48 countries and was conducted on the basis of the minimum wage data for 32 positions.
The Federation of European Employers was founded in 1989. FedEE is a useful source in human resources management for companies around the world. She focused on regulations and relationships in this area of activity.
The minimum wage is now in Cyprus – 743 euros
The island authorities have decided to increase the minimum wage. From now on, it is equal to 743 euros. The increase was 6.35%. Those who have worked at a single workplace for more than six months are entitled to an “increased minimum wage” – 698.82 euros.
Representatives of the Federation of Employers and Industrialists of the Republic of Cyprus opposed raising the minimum wage. According to Cypriot entrepreneurs, an increase in the minimum wage will negatively affect small and medium-sized enterprises.
OEB believes that a fixed minimum wage is a relic of the past, and it is high time to abandon it. Since 2000, the minimum wage in Cyprus has grown by 63.7%. According to Politis, the minimum wage in Cyprus is higher than the minimum wage in the USA and some other European countries.
Trade unions advocated raising the minimum wage. According to Christos Tompazos, Executive Secretary of PEO, the existence of a minimum wage was enshrined in law many years ago. Unions aim to ensure that in 2008 the minimum wage reaches 50% of the average wage in Cyprus.
Minimum wage in the north of Cyprus rose to 680 euros
Since September 2008, the minimum wage level will increase in the occupied territories of Cyprus. At the moment, it is 1060 Turkish liras (about 606 euros). Since the beginning of autumn, the minimum wage level will increase by 130 lira (74 euros) and will reach 1190 Turkish liras (680 euros). For comparison, starting from April 1, 2008, the minimum wage in the Republic of Cyprus is 743 euros.
The average salary in Switzerland is about 5000CHF ($ 3900), and the minimum salary is 3500 CHF ($ 2700) i.e. even the bevis at mcdonalds get paid so much. In Russia, not every top manager receives so much. According to our Swiss friends, a young couple will have enough 6000CHF per month, i.e. if both work and receive a minimum wage, it will even remain. These same friends rent a beautiful 2.5 bedroom (one room without decoration and windows, used as a storage room, and 2 residential) apartment with an underground garage and all the work, in the suburbs of Zurich, for only 1400CHF. Clothing and shoes are at the level of Moscow or St. Petersburg, and during the sales period is much cheaper than ours. Products and services are more expensive, sometimes much more expensive, but sometimes not. The saddest thing is that in Russia, prices for services are constantly growing and do so in isolation from the growth of incomes of the population. These same Swiss friends complain that it used to be profitable to treat teeth in Russia, and now the cost has roughly equalized and has been made easier and better in Switzerland. So in Switzerland, I sometimes felt poor.
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