Regional officials: closer and closer to people – the FBK rating

The experts of audit and consulting company FBK have drawn a rating of the regional officials «detachment» from people by results of 2012.
Based on the recent data of Rosstat the average salaries of officials (employees of the executive bodies of the RF subjects) in the region were compared with the average salary in the same subject of the federation. (At that the salaries of these territorial bodies of the federal executive authorities were not taken into account). As a result there has been come out already the third rating of regional officials «detachment».
By results of 2012 the first place in the rating of regional officials «detachment» from people was taken by Tyumen region (excepting Khanty-Mansi and Yamal-Nenets autonomous districts) where the officials salaries surpassed 2.3 times the average salary in the region. In the triple of the leaders there are also the Volgograd and the Leningrad regions.

In 2012 the regional officials had the highest average monthly salary – 125 895 rubles - in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, the lowest – 22 671 rubles was in the republic of Dagestan. The highest officials salary spurt upward was in the Ivanovo region: it at once went up 27 places in the rating for one year (from the 63rd to the 36th). The most in-depth «falling» officials salary was in the Republic of the North-Ossetia – Alania: it went down 23 places (from 47th to 73rd place).
The honorable last place in the rating as well as according to results of 2010-2011 was taken by Moscow where the regional officials salary (64 310 rubles) surpasses only 7 per cent the average salary in the city (60 171 rubles). It`s notable that in other capital city – Saint-Petersburg the officials salaries (67 495 rubles) proved to be 77 per cent higher than the average monthly salary in the city (38 030 rubles). «Generally the officials salaries in Saint Petersburg for the recent years proved to be consistently higher Moscow colleagues salaries while the average salary in the city is much than Moscow average salary», - the director of the FBK Strategic analysis Department Igor Nikolaev notes.
The number of regions where the wages surpass not less than 1.5 times the average monthly salary in these regions decreased from 66 to 56. It means that regional officials salaries in most regions as before is considerably surpassing the average salary in regions although the number of such regions decreased by ten ones. If in 2010 the average salary of employees in executive authorities of regions was higher by 65 per cent than the average salary in the country by results of 2011 the excess was 62 per cent, by results of 2012 it was 56 percent. «Thus we can state a fact of the closing the officials salaries with the average salary in the country. This is already the trend», - Igor Nikolaev says.

However in about a quarter regions (in 21 subjects of the Russian Federation) the opposite situation was observed - the difference between the salaries of the officials and ordinary citizens has increased. Tula region has become the leader of «the detachment growth»: the difference between officials salaries and the average wage in the region has increased from 1.9 times to 2.2 times (the sharp growth of salaries – 37.8 per cent – has likely occurred due to optimization of officials staff: their number has decreased by 10.3 per cent for 2012).
According to the FBK experts the sum total of rating «closer and closer to people» is natural. Firstly, it could be difficult for regional officials to ignore the decision not to raise the wage that concerned the federal officials on the eve of elections in 2011-2012. Secondly, the federal centre takes accelerated growth of the officials salaries more and more negative when vast majority of the regions are still subsidized. «I have no reason to think that the regional officials have become more modest, - I. Nikolaev sumps up. – Financial «detachment» of the regional officials from people is still quite large».