Wage Debts In Russia Have Risen Sharply
1- 2.07.2025, 12:21
- 2,298
Companies are facing an "existential challenge".
In Russia, wage arrears have started to grow sharply: from January to March of this year, the debts of companies to their employees officially increased from 0.5 billion to 1.5 billion rubles. However, according to trade unions, the figure is significantly higher and reaches 2.4 billion rubles. This follows from the report of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (VKP), which was reviewed by Izvestia. The All-Union Confederation of Trade Unions (VKP) has no data on the second quarter yet, but according to the operational monitoring, in April the debt amounted to 911 million rubles, and in May - 834 million rubles, writes The Moscow Times.
The largest wage defaulters in the first quarter include LLC "DSK" from the Tver region, working in the field of road construction. As of the end of March, the company owed its 3657 employees 608 million rubles. OOO Inskaya Mine in the Kemerovo Region also failed to pay Rb 65m to its employees on time. OOO Rassvet in the Tula Region, which operates in the catering industry, owed its employees Rb 36m in March. Vice-president of Opora Rossii Dmitriy Pishchalnikov noted that by the end of May the largest wage arrears were recorded in construction (Rb776m), manufacturing (Rb200m) and water supply and waste management (Rb150m). "By regional distribution, the most tense situation is recorded in the Urals Federal District, as well as in the Siberian Federal District. These are industrial territories with a high share of enterprises dependent on borrowed funds and state orders, which makes them especially vulnerable in the conditions of tight financial policy," Pischalnikov added.
He also cited data from the Federal Labor Inspectorate, which in 2024 recorded more than 18 thousand appeals of citizens about salary delays, which is 37% more than in 2023. This year, this trend has continued: in February alone, the number of appeals increased by more than 2.3 times compared to the same period last year. "The largest number of complaints comes from employees of small and medium-sized enterprises, including organizations working on government contracts or focused on the domestic local market," said the vice president of Opora Rossii.
Companies are increasing wage debts because they are facing an "existential challenge," says independent expert Andrey Barkhota. "With the key rate at a record high, the monthly debt payment for companies could rise by 30-70% relative to what it was 12-18 months ago. As a result, companies face a devilish choice: allow wage payments to lapse or default on loan servicing. But the latter may close financing opportunities forever in parallel with the credit rating downgrade. As a result, more often companies are forced to allow delays in payment of wages," - explained Barkhota.
In Rostrud reported that they received the data of the monitoring of the VKP, which contains information about organizations with a total amount of arrears of about 2.4 billion rubles. At the same time, the agency noted that the real fact of wage arrears is established by the state labor inspectorate in the course of control and supervisory activities and analysis of primary documents. In the first five months of 2025, as a result of inspections, the rights of over 117 thousand workers have already been restored, Rostrud added.
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