From what month does the salary increase for public sector employees begin? Incomes are promised to grow: when will wages in Russia start to increase? Increasing salaries for employees of budgetary institutions
The wages of Russian public sector employees are regulated at the federal level. Payment for a fully worked period cannot be lower than the value determined by the state. The basis in this case is the so-called minimum wage - the minimum amount of payment for labor. This is the indicator of payments for performing professional duties that employers should focus on.
Increasing the minimum wage and salaries of public sector employees: is there a relationship?
The labor income of public sector employees directly depends on the minimum wage. It cannot be lower than the established minimum size.
Attention! Legally, the employer will be able to pay less than a certain minimum when the employee does not work the entire required period, or works part-time, not full time.
When the minimum amount in the Russian Federation is increased, the wages of those state employees who, as a result of such an increase, became below the threshold determined by the state are also adjusted upward. For the category whose labor income equaled or exceeded the legally regulated value, everything remains at the same level.
Does the salary of public sector employees depend on the minimum wage?
To understand how the income from the work of public sector employees depends on the minimum wage, consider the following examples.
Example No. 1. Citizen A. works at an enterprise and her labor income as of May 1, 2018 was 10,000 rubles. Since after increasing the payment threshold from May 1, 2018 to 11,163 rubles. the size became below the state-defined value, her salary was increased by 2,000 rubles. Example No. 2. Citizen B. works in an institution and his salary before May 1, 2018 was 15,000 rubles. After increasing the minimum wage, his income did not fall below a certain value, so management did not consider it necessary to increase B’s wages. Important! Regions have the right to independently establish on the basis of a regional or other agreement. However, it cannot be lower than the federal limit. If this happens, for example, as in the Belgorod and Vladimir regions, then the all-Russian minimum applies.
Changes in salaries of public sector employees from May 1, 2018
Is it legal if the salary is less than the minimum wage in 2019
As a general rule, wages should be equal to or higher than the minimum wage. It may consist of:
- salary;
- bonuses;
- additional payments for special working conditions (harmful, dangerous, at night, overtime), length of service, etc.
Therefore, it is quite possible that the salary of a budget employee may be below a certain payment value. However, as a result of receiving additional payments, the total amount of labor income becomes equal to or higher than a certain value, which allows the employer to avoid violating the law in the field of remuneration.
Recalculation of wages when increasing the minimum wage
If, as a result of the state’s increase in labor income, an employee begins to receive wages below a certain value, the employer’s obligation is to increase it. This is achieved by recalculating the employee’s salary. The employer can increase the salary or introduce increased additional payments. For example, set a monthly bonus paid regardless of work results. Let's look at what this looks like using specific examples.
Example 1
Employee K., before the increase in the minimum wage in May 2018, received a salary of 10,500 rubles. It consisted of a salary of 6,000 rubles and a monthly bonus in the amount of 75% of it, that is, 4,500 rubles.
The management decided to increase the amount of K.’s monthly bonus to 100% of the salary, that is, to 6,000 rubles. Thus, the employee’s salary began to amount to 12,000 rubles, which is higher than the established minimum. However, the salary remained unchanged.
Example 2
Employee M. until May 1, 2018 received a salary of 9,500 rubles. It consisted of a salary of 5,000 rubles, a monthly bonus of 3,000 rubles. and additional payments for length of service of 1,500 rubles.
After the state increased the amount of remuneration for labor, the employer decided to increase M.’s salary by increasing his official salary to 7,000 rubles.
Thus, the employee’s income was 11,500 rubles. per month, which is higher than the established minimum amount.
Increase in wages from January 1, 2019 due to an increase in the minimum wage
Since federal legislation establishes an increase in the minimum wage threshold annually to the subsistence level of able-bodied citizens for the 2nd quarter of the previous year, then from January 1, 2019, an increase in wages should be expected for those public sector employees whose income from work during a full working week will fall below the minimum as a result threshold.
Employers will be faced with a choice of which mandatory part of the labor payment to increase in order to raise its size to the required minimum. Those of them who delay in resolving this issue or refuse to take such measures may be brought not only to administrative, but also to criminal liability.
Attention! Currently, the cost of living for the 2nd quarter of 2018 has not been officially established.
Relationship between public sector salaries and the minimum wage
The state guarantees public sector employees such remuneration that cannot be below the threshold established by it. If the employer for any reason violates the established rule, he will be held responsible for this.
A lower minimum wage can sometimes be established in a constituent entity of the Russian Federation on the basis of an agreement. This situation is observed in a number of regions, for example, Kurgan. Therefore, in such regions, the minimum threshold amount determined at the federal level is applied.
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How does the salary of public sector employees depend on the minimum wage?
As noted above, an increase in wages does not always lead to a mandatory increase in the salary of a public sector employee. This only happens when the total amount of wages does not reach the established minimum and the employer decides to increase the employee’s salary.
However, an organization can take a different route and increase, for example, the size of the monthly bonus or other mandatory payments.
Important! Permanent additional payments to the salary do not include compensation for vacation, travel expenses, year-end bonuses and similar payments.
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Most employees of budgetary institutions still receive salaries lower than the regional average. Although most of them go into the profession by vocation, they also count on decent payment for their work.
In 2019, wages are expected to increase for both public sector employees and civil servants, as well as the military.
The minimum wage will increase, and state employees will earn more
The Russian government has proposed increasing the minimum wage starting January 1, 2019. So, next year the “minimum wage” will be 11,280 rubles, which is 100% of the subsistence minimum for the working-age population based on the results of the second quarter of 2018.
Alas, the increase in the minimum wage will be insignificant - only 117 rubles (+1.048%). But this is in the central and southern regions. For the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the increase will be 351 rubles. In order for the salaries of public sector employees to increase, it will be necessary to allocate at least 5 billion rubles from the budget.
During the meeting of the 3-party commission, Tatyana Golikova noted: from the beginning of next year, unemployment benefits will be a maximum of 8,000 rubles, a minimum of 1,900 rubles. Currently, the unemployed receive assistance in the amount of at least 850 rubles or a maximum of 4,900 rubles.
The allocated 5 billion rubles will be divided:
- 1.4 billion rubles are provided to increase wages for employees of federal government agencies;
- 3.6 billion rubles are provided to increase the salaries of employees of government agencies in Russian regions and municipalities.
Latest news for October 14: the government has submitted a draft budget for 2019 - 2021. So, next year the volume of income and expenses will be 19,969 trillion rubles and 18,037 trillion rubles, respectively. The size of the surplus will be 1,932 trillion rubles (1.8% of GDP).
It is planned to increase the salaries of public sector employees from the average regional labor income to:
- 100% - school teachers, people who work in the cultural sphere, social workers, paramedical personnel;
- 200% - doctors, researchers, university teachers.
Salaries for doctors and teachers will increase by:
- 6% - next year;
- 5.4% - in another year;
- 6.6% - in 2021.
Who will be affected by the salary increase?
Public sector workers socially poorly protected, because their level of well-being depends entirely on the state. Therefore, the issue of increasing salaries for public sector employees is quite relevant.
Regular increases in wages for various categories of workers are a guarantee that their incomes will grow following the rise in prices for basic goods. However, not always and not for all categories of public sector employees, salary increases are made in accordance with the inflation rate - deviations can be either in the direction of faster growth or vice versa.
Public sector employees include several separate categories of workers:
- employees directly budgetary institutions– healthcare, educational, cultural institutions, etc.;
- representatives of the authorities– civil servants at the federal, regional and municipal levels;
- military personnel and employees paramilitary And security forces(police, fire service, national guard, etc.).
The level of remuneration for different categories of workers is set separately and regulated by different regulations. The level of wages itself differs from this:
As you can see, officials and security officials in Russia receive significantly more than employees directly budgetary institutions(many of whom receive salaries even lower than the national average). At the same time, the higher level of remuneration for scientific workers is associated with the small number of such workers (most scientists in Russia work in the field of education).
Representatives are expected to increase their salaries in 2019 all categories of public sector employees, however, the magnitude of this increase will vary.
Increasing salaries for employees of budgetary institutions
Among all categories of workers who receive salaries from the budget, employees of budgetary institutions are the least socially protected (as can be seen from the graph). At the same time, for different categories of public sector employees, wage levels also differ:
It is worth noting that the increase in salaries for employees of budgetary institutions is planned by the “May Decrees” of the President of the Russian Federation of 2012. According to them, social standards should improve significantly for some categories of public sector employees. However, as of 2017, most indicators are not being met:
| Year | Who should get a raise? | Landmark for promotion | Plan | Fact (2017) | Completion percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Teachers in schools | Average salary by region | 39167 | 34027 | 86,9 |
| 2013 | Kindergarten teachers | Average salary in general education | 34027 | 29027 | 85,3 |
| 2018 | Masters and teachers of vocational education; cultural workers | Average salary by region | 39167 | 32212-32466 | 82,2-82,9 |
| 2018 | University teachers; research assistants; doctors | 200% of the average salary in the region | 78334 | 56445-63831 | 72,1-81,5 |
| 2018 | Social workers; junior and nursing staff | Average salary by region | 39167 | 21413-30246 | 54,7-77,2 |
As you can see, the level of remuneration for teaching staff in general education institutions is closest to the target indicators (but it should have been achieved back in 2012). It is important that these are data for Russia as a whole; in some regions, local authorities have achieved almost complete compliance of actual indicators with target values.
It is also worth noting that often "May Decrees" carried out not through an actual salary increase, but through the manipulation of numbers:
- reduction and transfer of junior medical personnel to other categories(for example, transferring nurses to the category of cleaners) - in this case, such employees are not subject to a salary increase. Over 5 years, junior medical personnel decreased from 1.44 to 1.32 million people;
- reduction of personnel in the education sector(over 5 years – from 2.32 to 2.17 million people). They lay off highly paid employees (with scientific degrees and titles), redistributing their salaries to other positions. At the same time, low-paying jobs are being cut;
- redistribution of responsibilities due to staff reduction. For example, in healthcare, the responsibilities of reduced junior staff were transferred to nursing staff. Some responsibilities outsourced.
From May 1, 2018, the minimum wage increased to 11,163 rubles and became equal to the subsistence level. Now workers' wages cannot be less than this amount. What's the reality?
Increase in "budget"
According to statistics, about 1.6 million public sector workers received wages below the subsistence level.By Government Order No. 440-r dated March 16, 2018, allocations of 20 billion rubles were allocated to provide subsidies to the budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation to compensate for additional costs for increasing wages for public sector workers in connection with the increase in the minimum wage from May 1.
In addition, by Order No. 780-r dated April 27, 2018, allocations in the amount of 16.3 billion rubles are allocated from the Government reserve fund to provide subsidies to the budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation for partial compensation of additional costs for the payment of regional wage coefficients and percentage bonuses established at the federal level and to increase wages for public sector employees in connection with an increase in the minimum wage.
“Never before in the Russian Federation has there been such an increase in wages for certain categories in the public sector,” said the head of the Ministry of Labor, Maxim Topilin.
Promotion in commerce
Commercial firms must independently find funds to bring the salaries of their employees up to the federal minimum wage. Note that employers from some regions will not have to fuss because of the new federal minimum wage. They need to focus on the regional “minimum wage”, which is higher than the federal one.For example, in Moscow the minimum wage is 18,742 rubles, in the Moscow region - 13,750, in St. Petersburg - 17,000, in the Leningrad region - 11,400 rubles. In addition, the regional minimum wage is higher than the all-Russian minimum wage in such regions as the Tula region, the Magadan region, and the Kamchatka Territory.
Let us remind you that in the northern regions the “minimum wage” should be increased by the regional coefficient.
Those employers who paid employees less than the minimum wage before May 1 need to review payments and make changes to employment contracts.
As preliminary results show, which is carried out on our website, 30% of employers carried out an increase. By the way, the majority (45%) already paid their employees more than 11,163 rubles.
Non-promotion in "commerce"
Meanwhile, 25% of the employers we surveyed took a different route. They raised wages without raising them.As is known, according to Art. 133 of the Labor Code should be paid no less than the minimum wage to those employees who have fully worked their normal working hours. If an employee works part-time, then his salary is paid proportionally.
For example, until May 1, 2018, employee Ivanov received a salary in the amount of the minimum wage in the amount of 9,489 rubles.Let us note that the reasons for such a change in working hours at the initiative of the employer are limited by the provisions of Art. 74 TK.From May 1, with an 8-hour working day on a standard five-day week, his salary cannot be lower than 11,163 rubles. However, the employer, simultaneously with increasing the salary to the new minimum wage, transfers the employee to part-time work, formally complying with the Labor Code norms.
9489/11163*8=6.8 hours or 0.85 rate.
Thus, if you shorten an employee’s working day by 1 hour, making it 7 hours, then you can pay Ivanov not 11163, but 9767.63 (11163/8*7).
However, the employee himself can take the initiative. If employees suddenly decide to switch to part-time work starting in May 2018, declaring this in writing, the employer has the right to grant their request.
What threatens employers
For paying wages below the minimum wage, those who have worked the monthly norm are subject to a fine.Fines for this case are prescribed in Part 6 of Art. 5.27 of the Administrative Code and are:
- for legal entities - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
- for officials - from 10 to 20 thousand rubles;
- for individual entrepreneurs - from 1 to 5 thousand rubles.
In addition, for example, labor inspectors receive data on employers who charge contributions from wages calculated below the minimum wage.
The Pension Fund of citizens provides information about employers who offer to receive part of their salary “in an envelope.”
Tax officials, according to a number of characteristics, are companies with gray salaries. For example, their attention will be sharpened if they notice that an employee’s salary at a new place of work is lower than at the previous one (according to 2-NDFL certificates), that is, he changed jobs on less favorable conditions.
At the beginning of 2018, the government decided to increase wages for all government employees, in particular public sector employees, to the subsistence level, which includes a full consumer basket. This program was to be carried out gradually in three stages. Let’s try to analyze the situation in this article to see how things really stand with the solution to this issue.
Who are public sector employees and will their salaries be increased from December 1, 2018?
Constantly growing inflation, subject to the influence of the crisis, forces the government to constantly regulate the level of wages of the population. This is especially true for the salaries of public sector employees, whose salaries are tied to the state treasury or regional budgets. Therefore, it is this category of employees who is most concerned about the issue of salary increases. These include:
- Teachers working in government agencies;
- Kindergarten teachers and nannies;
- University teachers;
- Scientists;
- Workers of various cultural institutions: museums or libraries;
- Medical workers.
It should be noted that these same specialties in private institutions are not equated to state employees.
Since the beginning of 2018, wages of state employees and other vulnerable segments of the population have already been indexed due to rising inflation. And it was planned to equalize the minimum wage with the subsistence level in the first ten days of 2019. But since the economic situation in Russia unexpectedly stabilized, the head of the country revised the deadlines for implementing this Decree, so as of May 2018, a decision was made to change the salaries of public sector employees, taking into account indexation and equating them to the minimum subsistence level of the population.
The salary increase for public sector employees, in particular for teachers and medical workers, is planned within 4%.
Will there be an increase in salaries for public sector employees from December 1, 2018 and who will receive the increase?
Information about the increase in salaries for public sector employees from December 1, 2018 in various sources looks very ambiguous. But it is already clear that this pressing issue will still be resolved. During the current year, wages have already been indexed for some segments of the population. But since the salaries of teachers and medical workers lag far behind the level of other developed countries, the government plans to solve this issue by indexing them in accordance with the growth of inflation.
One thing is clear: raising wages by 4% will not change the situation much, but will at least partially cover the damage. And considering that all allowances and bonuses for public sector employees are calculated from direct earnings, their total income will increase in the range from 6% to 10%. The increase in wages for public sector employees from December 1, 2018 is also due to the fact that in Russia the retirement age of workers is gradually increasing. Therefore, in order to somehow “smooth out” this moment, such a measure is simply necessary.
It’s a secret that the salaries of Russian medical workers and teachers compared to other European countries look, to put it mildly, “modest.” Of course, the economic instability of the budget does not allow us to make a big leap in the direction of increasing them. But a gradual solution to this problem is envisaged.
So, for example, the governor of the Moscow region Andrei Vorobyov has already ordered an increase in salaries for some groups of public sector employees from September 1, 2018. This list will include:
- Physical education workers – by 10%;
- Medical workers – by 15%;
- Teachers, class teachers - by 15%;
- Some workers from the field of social policy – 10%;
- Production training masters – 5%.
He did not ignore the workers of clubs and recreation centers in rural areas, recommending to increase their earnings by 15%.
A good example to follow. Let's hope that other officials will not be kept waiting long in this endeavor.
