Average Salary Grows 46 Percent in Russia in 2001

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 27, 2001

Average Salary Grows 46 Percent in Russia in 2001

The average monthly salary in Russia has grown by 46.2 percent in 2001, and the growth of real salaries, with inflation taken into account, has increased by 12 percent, the Russian State Statistics Committee said Wednesday.

According to the committee, the highest salaries this year were registered in the gas and oil sectors, which are 15,000 rubles (500 U.S. dollars) and 14,500 rubles (483 dollars) respectively. In the agriculture sphere, the average monthly wages were 1,481 rubles (49.4 dollars), in the education sphere 1,862 rubles (62.1 dollars), and in the health care system 1,959 rubles (65.3 dollars).

As of December 1, arrears on salary payments in Russia reached 34.8 billion rubles (1 billion U.S. dollars), shrinking by 3.1 billion rubles (100 million dollars) compared with the start of 2001.

The committee also said the average pension in Russia is 1,134 rubles (37.8 dollars) per month now, increasing by 40 percent fromthe start of this year.

The average minimum living cost in 2001 is 1,600 rubles (53.3 dollars), and 27 percent of the population are below the poverty line, said the committee.

According to methodology of the International Labor Organization, the overall number of Russian unemployed will be 6.3million by the end of 2001, while in January this figure was 7.1 million people.

At the same time, only about 1 million people are officially registered as unemployed, with 976,000 vacant jobs currently existing in the Russian economy, said the committee.

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