The Impact of Wage Levels on the Quality of Employment and Economic Sustainability of Households

Abstract

The problem of compliance of the wage level of employees with social standards of living standards, having undoubted regional features, is relevant for all subjects of the Russian Federation.  When  determining  the  wage  of  organizations  funded  from  regional  budgets, we believe they should proceed from the general methodological basis for determining its size. In the article is analyzed the situation with the wage level of employees in the sector of organizations, which is the main segment of Russian employment. It has been revealed that the level of wages most strongly affects its quality and is one of the main indicators of precarious employment. The peculiarities of the distribution of employees by wage level are revealed, depending on the level of qualification of employees and their working conditions, taking  into  account  the  forms  of  ownership  and  the  size  of  organizations.  Based  on  the author’s  tools,  the  analysis  of  the  impact  of  wage  levels  on  the  economic  sustainability of households due to (not) achieving socially acceptable and higher standards of living is carried out. It is shown that for more than 80% of employees, the wage level currently does not allow to ensure such standards. A radical increase in the wage level is proposed based on the development of industry-specific social wage standards. This will improve the quality of employment: reduce the scale of precarious employment, link the level of wages with the qualifications of employees and their working conditions, taking into account the characteristics  of  sectors  of  the  Russian  economy,  as  well  as  significantly  increase  the economic sustainability of households.