Inequality and Poverty in the High-Paying Moscow

This article reviews the following aspects of statistical study of wages of various consumer groups of employees (workers) of the leading constituent entity of the Russian Federation that is the city of Moscow: - place and role of Moscow in terms of its wage level among other constituent entities of the Russian Federation and Russian economy in general are determined; - the distribution of employed persons in Moscow by consumer groups according to their wages is calculated, issues concerning people who are working in Moscow are identified; - in detail are considered the scale and dynamics of the employed with the wages of at or below the poverty line, the role of the following characteristics is defined: mode , median, average wage of distribution series in assessing the extent of poverty of employees (workers);- the author examined the issues of correlation between the federal and regional subsistence minimum and the way they are accounted for in the formation of minimum wage at both the federal and regional levels. On the basis of concrete calculations, it was concluded that the city of Moscow should start using the regional minimum wage as the main for employees of organizations that are financed not only from the regional but also from the federal budgets. In this regard, the state statistical bodies are invited to introduce systematic record of the process of reducing the number of employees who are paid a wage that is below not only federal but also regional minimum level; - the paper studies the scope and dynamics of the most rapidly growing consumer group with wages above the poverty line, as well as the group of the middle class, which still does not exert a proper influence on the economic development of the capital; - a lot of attention is given to the analysis of the degree of inequality in the remuneration of Muscovites and the role of the second prosperous group, that encompasses the number of employees with earnings above the level of the middle class. An important place occupies the analysis of the dynamics of the number and average wages of high-paid groups of employees (workers) with earnings of 1 million roubles and more. The author emphasizes the influence that a dynamic group of employees (workers) with high wages has on increasing the polarization of the distribution of employees on the poor and the rich; - the distribution of the employees by consumer groups is analyzed, based on their remuneration level by economic activity and ownership types; - the author raises question of the influence of unaccounted «gray» and «black» earnings on the real scale of poverty and wealth of employees (workers); - the paper suggests a way of accounting for «shadow» earnings in the questionnaire survey of the working population in the Rosstat Labour Force Survey.

scale of poverty (at a level, below and above the poverty line), group of high-paid workers at or above the middle class, regional and federal subsistence minimum, regional and federal minimum wage, modal, median wage, variation, coefficient of differentiation, coefficient of wage concentration, legal («white») wages, «gray» wages, «black cash», number of employees that were accounted for and unaccounted for in statistical reporting

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