Poll: Nearly 80% of Russians live paycheck to paycheck
About 80% of Russians, in one way or another, face a shortage of money before each payday. Nearly half (41%) of those surveyed by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) complain of a "frequent" shortage of finance.
19% of the respondents have no problems with their pay. 39% face a similar problem but rarely so. Three-quarters of employed Russians are dissatisfied with their salaries. Only 23% of Russians believe that they have a sufficient monthly income. In contrast, 70% of Russian citizens were dissatisfied with their salaries in February, 2015. There were more disgruntled employees this year than there have been since October 2002, when the dissatisfaction level was 82%.
Among the main reasons for low earnings, participants of the FOM research blamed the unwillingness of employers to raise wages (10%), economic crisis (9%) and the insufficient appreciation of the dignity of the labor (11%). In particular, 65% of the respondents believe that their salary does not match the complexity of the job.
In late March, Russian Vice Prime Minister Olga Golodets spoke about a very sharp drop in the incomes of Russians. She explained that the decrease in purchasing power impacts retail turnover, which impedes serious growth.
Earlier similar information was provided by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). According to Rosstat, over the last month of the winter, the real incomes of Russians were 6.9% lower than February of last year. This rate is the highest since May, 2015.