Teachers in 90 Percent of Russia’s Federal Subjects Earn on Average Less than the Country’s Minimum Wage – and in Some Less than a Quarter of that Amount

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 30 – One needed look far for the reason that the Russian Federation has a severe shortage of public-school teachers: the answer is that teachers in 90 percent of its federal subjects earn on average less than half the country’s minimum wage and in some cases, less than a quarter of that amount, according to Russia’s independent Teachers Union.

            In only three of Russia’s more than 80 federal subjects do teachers make on average more than the 22,440 rubles (250 US dollars) a month that Moscow has set as the minimum wage. These are Moscow, Tatarstan and Primorsky Kray (iz.ru/1944780/valeria-misina/unizaemaa-professia-v-90-regionov-oklady-ucitelei-nize-mrot and regionvoice.ru/uchitelya-pashut-za-groshi-oklady-pedagog/).

            In most, teachers are paid close to the minimum wage; but in some, salaries are pathetically much smaller: In Karachayevo-Cherkessia, for example, teachers are paid on average less than 3900 rubles (42 US dollars) a month, less than a fifth of the state-mandated minimum.

            As a result of these low salaries, which are paid by cash-strapped regions who are forced to turn over their tax money to Moscow and then receive a portion of it back, few are attracted to teaching; and those who are now typically leave quickly, a pattern that creates a permanent crisis at the lower levels of education in the Russian Federation.