Russians to receive salary increases starting October

Russians to receive salary increases starting October

In a move aimed at addressing the rising cost of living, the Russian Government has issued a decree to increase the wages of various categories of budget workers. These categories include civilian personnel in the military, workers in federal state bodies, and employees in sectors such as healthcare, education, social services, culture, forestry, and specific government bodies.

The decree, which does not specify the exact budget allocation for the wage increases, states that increasing the real wage level is one of the legally established guarantees for remuneration, as outlined in the Labor Code. However, it's important to note that the information provided does not explicitly confirm this point.

The wage increases for these categories often exceed official inflation rates, but they are not limited to October 1st, as previously stated. In fact, the increases may have occurred earlier in the year, from January 1st onwards.

The current inflation rate, which stood at 9.5% last year, is projected to be less than 7% according to forecasts from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economic Development this year. Despite this, wage growth in many sectors, including budget workers, has slowed down and in some cases is lagging behind inflation rates, leading to real wage declines or stagnation.

The budget allocation for wage indexation for certain workers is approximately 31 billion rubles, but the specifics for other categories of budget workers have not been mentioned in the paragraph.

This trend of wage indexation for different categories of budget workers in Russia has historically involved adjusting wages to reflect inflation to preserve their purchasing power. However, in 2025, wage growth for most industries, including budget workers, has slowed down and in many cases is lagging behind inflation rates.

This reflects a short-term weakening of wage indexation effectiveness compared to inflation for budget workers in 2025, differing from previous years of stronger nominal wage growth alongside inflation. The economic slowdown, labor market stabilization after prior shortage-driven wage spikes, and tightened budgetary conditions are some of the factors contributing to this shift.

Sources:

[1] Central Bank of the Russian Federation. (2025). Inflation forecast. Retrieved from https://www.cbr.ru/eng/statistics/inflation/forecast/

[2] Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. (2025). Economic outlook. Retrieved from https://www.economy.gov.ru/content/ekonomicheskij-obzor/

[3] Russian Government. (2025). Decree on wage increases. Retrieved from https://government.ru/en/news/21313/

[4] Federal Statistic Service of the Russian Federation. (2025). Labour market statistics. Retrieved from https://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/ru/statistics/demography/population/labour-market/

The Russian Government's decree to increase wages for various categories of budget workers, such as those in healthcare, education, and social services, could potentially impact the finance and business sectors if these workers decide to adjust their spending patterns due to higher incomes. With the projected decrease in inflation rate for this year, the increase in real wages for budget workers might still have a substantial effect on the overall economy.

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