Russia sees over 40% increase in wage arrears in 2024: first rise in nine years
Pravda Ukraine
The debts Russian companies owe to their employees totalled RUB 507.9 million (about US$5.7 million) as of 1 January 2025, up 43.5% or RUB 153.9 million (about US$1.7 million) year-on-year.
Source: The Moscow Times citing data from the Federal State Statistics Service
Details: About a quarter of this amount – more than RUB 110 million (about US$1.2 million) – is debt accumulated in 2022-2023, and the remaining RUB 394.7 million (about US$4.4 million) is salaries that were not paid in 2024.
The Federal State Statistics Service says this is the first time overdue wage arrears have increased since 2015. Back then, after the collapse in oil prices and the introduction of Western sanctions, business debts to employees increased by 75% over the year to RUB 3.5 billion (about US$39 million).
The construction industry was hit by the crisis the hardest, accounting for half of the wage arrears as the market suffered the consequences of the mortgage collapse and a sharp rise in the key policy rate of the Central Bank of Russia. Another 20% of arrears are concentrated in the manufacturing industry.
Background:
- As of June 2024, the total amount of Russian citizens’ bank loans exceeded RUB 40 trillion (about US$460 billion).
- The Russian authorities are preparing to grant the Federal Tax Service (FTS) the right to collect tax arrears from citizens without a hearing in court, which will allow them to “simultaneously” replenish regional budgets by RUB 22.5 billion (about US$220 million).
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