Russian´s real wages down 9,5%

Average real incomes – apart from wages that include private incomes and state payout – fell 4 percent last year compared to 2014, new data from the Russian statistics service Rosstat shows.

Real wages dripped as much as 10 percent in December alone, RBK reports. The average monthly salary in Russia last year was 30,311 roubles (€349,2).

The sharp decline in earnings has forced many Russians to slash their daily spending. In a poll from December, nine percent of the respondents said they could hardly afford basic foodstuffs, more than twice as many as in a similar study in 2014. Another 30 percent of respondents said they could afford food, but not new clothing. In 2014, only 18 percent of respondents adherred to that category.

In the same study, a total of 22 percent described the material situation of their family as ”bad”, an increase of eight percent from 2014. The number of people who said their situation was ”medium” totalled 64 percent, a decline of six percent from 2014.

Several of the key ingredients in the traditional Russian menu saw the highest price hike in 2015. The overall year-on-year price increase on Russian foodstuff amounted to 14,5 percent, as Independent Barents Observer reported.