Report - UNDP Russia

comparison of month-on-month developmentof unemployment rates against the sameperiods in the previous year show thatunemployment growth cannot be explained byseasonal fluctuations. Unemployment reached alocal maximum in February 2009, and y-o-yincreases peaked in May 2009. Registeredunemployment entered a phase of explosivegrowth in early 2009 when levels ofunemployment benefit were raised, and y-o-yrates of growth of registered and totalunemployment became comparable in March.To date GDP and industrial production havefallen faster than unemployment has risen, butprevious crises show that such a time lag is to beexpected. The unemployment peak is still tocome. Depending on economic and budgetpolicies experts predict more tension on thelabor market in the fall of 2009 and early 2010.How have changing incomes, salariesand pensions affected income stratificationin society? Inequality tripled during thestructural crisis of 1992–1999, when realincomes were halved (Figure 3.2). Theeconomic growth period saw steady growthof the Gini Index and of the ratio betweenincomes of the wealthiest 20% of thepopulation and the poorest 20%. The maincontributor to such inequality is wagedifferences: the ratio of the 20% best paid to20% worst paid employees is 1.7 times largerthan ratio between the highest and lowest20% in terms of overall income (Figure 3.2).The wage ratio grew from 7.8 to 39.6 timesfrom 1991 and 2001, but then fell sharply to30.5 times. It should be noted that thesestatistics are only for large and medium-sizedbusinesses, which account for half of all thosein employment (54.3% in June 2009). Whatthese statistics show, therefore, is thatwidening of the income gap from 2002onwards was due to incomes from property,business activity, wages paid to employees ofsmall businesses, and informal remunerationschemes. Available data on differentiation ofobservable wages suggest that salarydifferentiation was most affected by majorredistributive processes within and betweenFigure 3.2Indicators of income and wage differentiation70Income (wage) ratio between 20% with highest and 20%with lowest incomes (wages)0.5080.480 0.4830.477 0.4810.4540.4670.4390.445 0.4470.456 0.4590.4470.4090.399 0.395 0.397 0.397 0.403 0.409 0.406 0.4100.422 0.424 0.416 0.4140.3170.381 0.375 0.38139.634.032.130.5 30.026.423.424.0 25.026.40.26024.9 25.322.115.113.5 13.0 13.5 13.9 13.9 13.9 14.0 14.5 15.2 14.9 15.316.8 16.9 16.1 15.87.84.50.6Gini Coefficient01991 1994 1995 1996 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Q32008Cash income ratio between 20% with highest and 20% with lowest cash incomes (left scale)Wage ratio between 20% with highest and 20% with lowest wages (left scale)Gini Coefficient for cash incomes (right scale)Gini Coefficient for wages (right scale)Q320090.0Source: Social Situation and Living Standards in Russia, 2007. Statistical Digest/Rosstat – M; p.136; Social Situation and Living Standards in Russia,2000. Statistical Digest/Goskomstat RF – M, p.130.57