Regional Differentiation of Labour Productivity and Distribution of Value Added

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of the distribution of value added in the course of wage formation. Improvement of the efficiency of social production in Russia is associated with the need for innovative, technological changes that should lead to an increase in labor productivity. The Russian Federation is not a country with a high level of production efficiency. Frequently, this very fact is the reason for justifying the low wages in the country. The paradox of the existence of the category of working citizens — “the working poor” — in the country is based, among other things, on a low level of guaranteed incomes — the minimum wage. The minimum wage until May 1, 2018 did not meet the minimum wage. Neither in economic theory nor in the practice of national economies does there exist an “optimal” correlation of the distribution of value added between employees and owners. Yet, the ratio of the minimum wage to the value added rather vividly characterizes the fairness of the current systems of relations in the labour market, this phenomenon being termed “the freedom of work” by a number of experts. The size of the average wage in the region depends on the presence of high value added industries in the territory, i.e. on industry specialization. The established practice in Russia is as follows: the higher the level of average wage is, the lower the share of value added per wage is. Regions without specialization in high value-added economic activities will more realistically assess the level of socio-economic development, basing their strategic development on industries that form more equitable wage systems and equalize the average wage.