Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Most Russians Submit to Employer Demands Because Nearly Half Lack Funds to Survive More than a Few Weeks if They Lose Their Jobs, Surveys Find

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 15 – Twenty-three percent of Russians say they lack enough money to pay their bills for even a week if they lose their jobs and must turn to friends and family for help. Another 20 percent indicate they would get to that point two weeks after dismissal. And another 15 percent say they would run out of funds in six weeks.

            These findings gathered by leading Russian recruiting firms help to explain why employees in Russian firms are willing to do almost anything a boss asks,  including suffering cuts in their wages and salaries, as long as they are allowed to keep their positions (mk.ru/economics/2021/03/15/totalno-zapugannaya-rossiya-strakh-pered-uvolneniem-sdelal-rossiyan-pokornymi.html).

            They also explain why it is so easy for employers to cut wages or demand more work from employees and thus keep the number of Russians officially unemployed far lower than the actual one and why Russians who feel powerless with respect to their bosses at work often transfer such feelings to political elites as well.

            The situation has become both worse and more visible during the pandemic because prices and the costs of communal services have risen and because Russians have taken on more credit, something that means any cushion they may have had earlier is largely gone since so much of current income must go to servicing debt.

            At the same time, Russians who do lose their jobs, often for reasons that violate labor law, have little confidence that they can defeat their former employers in court. Indeed, over the last decade, the share of those who have won such suits has fallen by a quarter in the Russian Federation.

            If the Russian government were to adopt a more generous unemployment compensation program or if it were to enforce existing workplace laws, all this might change. But there is little indication that those in the political elite have any interest in limiting the powers of their economic counterparts or in creating a situation in which ordinary people will feel agency.

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 15 – Twenty-three percent of Russians say they lack enough money to pay their bills for even a week if they lose their jobs and must turn to friends and family for help. Another 20 percent indicate they would get to that point two weeks after dismissal. And another 15 percent say they would run out of funds in six weeks.

            These findings gathered by leading Russian recruiting firms help to explain why employees in Russian firms are willing to do almost anything a boss asks,  including suffering cuts in their wages and salaries, as long as they are allowed to keep their positions (mk.ru/economics/2021/03/15/totalno-zapugannaya-rossiya-strakh-pered-uvolneniem-sdelal-rossiyan-pokornymi.html).

            They also explain why it is so easy for employers to cut wages or demand more work from employees and thus keep the number of Russians officially unemployed far lower than the actual one and why Russians who feel powerless with respect to their bosses at work often transfer such feelings to political elites as well.

            The situation has become both worse and more visible during the pandemic because prices and the costs of communal services have risen and because Russians have taken on more credit, something that means any cushion they may have had earlier is largely gone since so much of current income must go to servicing debt.

            At the same time, Russians who do lose their jobs, often for reasons that violate labor law, have little confidence that they can defeat their former employers in court. Indeed, over the last decade, the share of those who have won such suits has fallen by a quarter in the Russian Federation.

            If the Russian government were to adopt a more generous unemployment compensation program or if it were to enforce existing workplace laws, all this might change. But there is little indication that those in the political elite have any interest in limiting the powers of their economic counterparts or in creating a situation in which ordinary people will feel agency.

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