Over a third of Russians receiving the national
minimum wage are state employees, the country’s Vice Prime Minister Olga Golodets has
revealed.
Speaking in the Russian State Duma on Tuesday, Golodets said that 4.8 million Russians were earning the legal minimum, of which 1.8 million were government employees.
The politician condemned the figures, saying that all workers should receive “a decent, dignified wage.”
“Having a poor working population just isn’t right,” she said.
Her comments come after a 21 percent rise in the minimum monthly wage to 7,500 rubles ($117) on July 1. Russian law states that the minimum wage cannot be lower than the official monthly subsistence wage, which was set earlier this month set at 9,956 rubles ($155).
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