Russia Can't Afford to Pay Decent Wages

'Our country is very poor and can't afford to pay its workers much,' announced Russian Minister for Labour and Social Development Alexander Pochinok in a live interview with radio station Echo Moskvy. He pointed out that Russia's GDP is similar to that of Switzerland although the population of Russia is 15 times larger than that of Switzerland.

Those who work in state-run institutions in Russia earn considerably less than people in other countries according to Mr Pochinok. 'We must find legal ways of raising national wages,' the minister emphasised 'and for this reason we must reform the pay system, reject the flat rate scale of payment, increase the wages of those employed by the state and allocate all available resources towards increasing wages in general.'