Each - by calorie

The authorities again grind the consumer basket. Why this does not help to defeat poverty

In 16 out of 100 large Russian cities, the average salary in 2019, according to the RIA Rating study, is above 50 thousand rubles. Medium people in medium -sized cities buy at least 1.36 “standard consumer set” for their average salary, which in terms of goods and services included even more of the consumer basket for the region. Each also has 28 square meters of their own living space, and a mortgage, if it was once, has long been repaid.

Having rejoiced for those who have the opportunity to buy from 1.36 to 3.83 sets with delicacies, clothing, production, furniture, legal services and many others, we will pay attention to the living conditions of citizens who are only striving for such prosperity.

They have not forgotten about them, assured them. At the end of September, the head of government, Dmitry Medvedev, instructed to revise the consumer basket by 2021 and lay a healthier diet and more services in it. But can this be a reason for joy?

In short - about the consumer basket. This is a list of goods and services that should allow a person to survive until the next patch, as well as a criterion for sufficient security in Russia.

The costs in the consumer basket are divided into three groups:

• food products,

• Non -food products

• and services.

With the current methodology for the formation of a consumer basket in natural indicators, only the food part is calculated, and the remaining two parts of non -food products make up 50% of the food price. As a result, when calculating the subsistence level, the regional "Rosstats" carefully monitor the fluctuations in prices for products, but the real market value of the same clothing or housing and communal services services is no longer accepted.

This matters to many people. Although the minimum wage is precisely equal to the subsistence minimum, and it is assumed that any employed person should be able to maintain their performance, the appearance of even one dependent (child, disabled person) can sharply complicate the financial condition and move all family members to the poor category.

With retirement, their difficulties can also arise. Not all pensioners are gaining sufficient experience to obtain a pension above the subsistence level, and in this case, the state takes compensation for the difference. However, this difference can break away from real prices in the markets of services and non -food goods, depending on the time of year! In summer, products, as a rule, are cheaper, and with them it is cheaper and a monetary assessment of other expenses in the basket.

- In this situation, some pensioners are deprived. Let's say a pensioner is a pensioner in the second quarter. He has a pension below the subsistence minimum. So, he is paid to the subsistence minimum in the region. This “old” pensioner goes into the third quarter, but the state guarantees him that its surcharge does not decrease. What happens to another pensioner in the third quarter? If he retires during this period and his pension does not reach the cost of living, he is paying less, - comments on the doctor of economic sciences, the leading researcher at INION RAS Sergey Smirnov.

That is why it is extremely important to monitor the changes in the composition of the consumer basket. When they revise the basket, they can change the ratio of various categories of products, reduce the proportion of potatoes, bread, pasta, flour products, can lay more products in the product, more consumption of meat, vegetables, fruits. This will also affect the calculation of other parts of the basket, although the binding of their value assessment to real prices in the markets of non -food goods and services would be more preferable.

But what can there be a real change in this case? Will the new basket be comparable with the “standard consumer set”, which is focused on RIA Rating? Some experts count on 20-30% improvement, while others are more restrained in their assessments.

- All my experience and inner voice say that yes, they can increase the consumer basket, but is unlikely to be much. Not 20%. If it will increase by 5%, and say that they added 10 more of meat, good, ”comments Natalya Zubarevich, professor at the Department of Economic and Social Geography of Moscow State University.

The subsistence minimum calculated on the basis of the consumer basket serves as an instrument for assessing the well -being of citizens, in other words, poverty in Russia. Respectively,

The cardinal improvement of the consumer basket will lead to an increase in the number of poor, those who cannot afford such a “luxury”. Those whom the state will be obliged to provide benefits.

In other countries, approaches to poverty assessment differ from Russian. There are also consumer baskets there, they contain huge lists of goods and services, but you should not compare them with our basket, since the purpose of these lists is completely different. This is not the necessary minimum for survival, but only a tool for assessing the inflation level.

If you look at those countries where consumer baskets are used for the same purpose as in Russia (USA, Australia), then it is still difficult to compare them. For example, in Texas no fur coats and no one eats buckwheat, beets, there are other food habits that are laid in the formation of the diet.

Tatyana Maleva, director of the Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting of the RANEPA, believes that the idea of ​​a consumer basket as a minimum consumption standard is irrelevant.

- The problem of the consumer approach, I believe that it is generally outdated in principle, we will simply not be able to calculate such needs. Consumer behavior and consumer culture become so diverse that soon we will not be able to measure it. At the same time, the consumption of services is growing as a leading pace compared to the commodity, and, in my opinion, quite soon we will understand that the establishment of a minimum consumer standard corresponds to an industrial society, but does not correspond to the post -industrial, ”the expert says.

As a rule, 60% of median income is considered the poverty border (salary levels are more than one half of workers in the country, and less than that of the other). Median income is not equal to the average salary, which can affect the income of the rich minority. He is closer to what the majority gets.

For example, in Russia, the median salary in April 2019 amounted to 34,335 rubles, and the average salary is 47,657 rubles (Rosstat data). Then

The border of poverty around the country should be a salary of 20,601 rubles (60% of the median income), which is almost twice as high as the subsistence level and leaves 25% of the population behind the line.

However, the state prefers to focus on more modest figures of 12.9% (the number of people with income below the subsistence level in 2018) and 27.4% (the number of people with income below 1.5 subsistence levels).

In current conditions, it is possible to help in those who need effectively. According to Maleva, it is necessary to tighten the requirements for obtaining benefits, but at the same time improve the identification of really poor and provide them with longer support.

For example, the discussed transition to the poverty criterion in two subsistence minimums for families with children up to three years of age unjustifiably expands the poverty zone. “The problem is that all money is spent only on a group of children under three years of age, including non -poor ones. And then there is not enough money to give benefits to those families who have more than three years old for the child. In our country, the full of poor children, whose age exceeds three years. For example, there is a family where a child is seven years old, and mother and grandmother are sitting with a living wage. This is a poor family, but she is not supposed to be a manual, ”the expert notes.

Another problem, according to Tatyana Maleva, is the difficulty of checking for real need.

The state is trying to solve this problem: not so long ago, the EGISSO system (the Unified State Information System of Social Support) has been developed, but so far it does not allow you to accurately determine whether the poor household or not.

- Poverty is not a category of income, it is a category of consumption. Even if the income of the household is higher than the subsistence minimum and is, for example, 50 thousand, but at the same time the family does not have their own housing, and half of the 50 thousand goes to rent an apartment, and the family consists of 4 people, it remains with 25 thousand for four, which is many times lower than the subsistence minimum. At the same time, modern statistics, the social protection system will not consider such a family poor, because there is 50 thousand income, ”comments Tatyana Malev.

-The social assistance system can add some resources to the lower part of the distribution of income, but this is not the radical solution to the problem. “Until economic growth is launched, poverty reduction cannot occur by definition,” the expert concludes.

Daria Tararai, especially for Novaya Gazeta