A living wage is a certain amount of money that is capable of ensuring the physical survival of a person in the current price level. However, prices are constantly growing, and with them the value of the subsistence minimum increases.
From the point of view of the current legislation, the subsistence minimum is a monetary expression of the value of the so-called consumer basket. It, in turn, includes a minimum of food and non-food items, as well as services necessary for a person to ensure basic physical survival for a month.
The concept of a living wage
The composition, size and other characteristics of the subsistence minimum in the Russian Federation are established at the legislative level. So, at the moment they are determined by the Federal Law No. 134-FZ of October 24, 1997 "On the cost of living in the Russian Federation."
The specified normative legal act, in particular, provides that several types of subsistence minimum are established in the country with a certain frequency. First, the legislator proceeds from the premise that different amounts of money are required to provide for an adult, a child and a pensioner. Therefore, the competent authorities calculate three main types of subsistence minimum - for the working-age population, for pensioners and for children.
The second factor that differentiates the size of the subsistence minimum is the region of residence. The fact is that in different constituent entities of the Federation, the level of prices for the same goods or services can differ significantly depending on a number of factors, including climatic conditions, the level of wages and others. Accordingly, the values of the subsistence minimum in these regions will also differ. Thus, the country calculates the federal cost of living, as well as the cost of living separately for each region of the Russian Federation.
The size of the subsistence minimum
The size of the subsistence minimum in the country as a whole is set on a quarterly basis and is subject to fixation in a special normative legal act issued in this regard. Thus, in the first quarter of 2014, the federal subsistence minimum established by Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 586 of June 26, 2014 amounted to 7688 rubles per month.
At the same time, this resolution also determined the size of this indicator for different social groups. So, for an adult, the subsistence minimum was set at 8283 rubles per month, for a child - 7452 rubles per month, for a pensioner - 6308 rubles per month.
At the same time, given the constant rise in prices in the country, the cost of living has a pronounced tendency to increase, that is, in each next quarter, in most cases, it turns out to be higher than in the previous one. So, in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, this indicator increased by 4.9%.
