Advertising self-employed, the government seeks to demonstrate that at least some people in our country now earn more than before. But is it?
At the meeting of Vladimir Putin with government members, the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov reported that Russia has already 260 thousand self-employed. Good or bad? This kind of information launched in the media, pursuing, in General, simple goal: to show people that power stands out, has its finger on the pulse of what the economy is something somehow develops, some people manage to earn more than before, pay taxes, and hence in the whole country it’s not as bad as it seems.
At the same time publicly voiced figures have these experiences to complement and impress, primarily on the consumers of such information. What to the untrained reader and the viewer who will not climb on the Rosstat website to double-check announced by the Minister of information (and if they climb, it is unlikely that it will understand), these 260 thousand self-employed? Sounds solid, you might think this person will do their work, soothing. This, in fact, and calculation.
Meanwhile, any facts and figures can say something only in comparison with other similar facts and figures. But in order to understand the trend, need to watch their dynamics. Now, 260 thousand people is a lot or a little? Given that the Russian economy is about 71,5 million employees, it is clear that a little bit. Approximately 0.36% of those who somehow works. However, these 0,36% the state seeks to impose a possible tax. As they say, every little helps…
Now ask who are these self-employed. Under current Russian legislation it is those who work for yourself, without using someone else’s work and whose income does not exceed 2.4 million rubles a year or about 200 thousand rubles per month. These guys are as extremely bold experiment conducted so far in four constituent entities of the Russian Federation, have to pay the government 4% of revenue.
For any nurses or nurse’s aides in kindergartens, earning 7 thousand roubles, for workers and clerks, receiving 20 to 30 thousand rubles per month, the amount of 200 thousand rubles, probably, excites the imagination. However, the fact that in reality, few self-employed earns so much.
The same five players listed some activities are self-employed: “It is primarily the transportation of passengers (about 18.7% of all self-employed participated in this kind of business), construction (around 7 percent), rental property (10 percent), tutoring and so forth.”
That is, roughly speaking, it turns out that “fish is” taxi their cars are the biggest category of self-employed. But how much do they earn, given the enormous competition in this market, as well as the necessary expenses for fuel, repairs of car, payment of insurance, the penalties and so forth? And how after all this they still? The question is rhetorical.
Another large category of those who rent out their apartments. Well, this is exactly bathe in clover probably thinks the man in the street. However, if we look at the offers rental housing in the most expensive city not only in Russia but throughout the world — Moscow, you will see that most of the proposals is a one – bedroom apartments available at the price from 23 up to 30-40 thousand rubles a month. That is, the income under salaries below the national average. Of course, there are apartments and 60 thousand rubles and more, but not so many who nowadays is able to pay such amounts for a long time.
However, the answer to the above question is. Those who are unable to pay such amounts for rental housing (and, of course, a minority), just buy apartments and houses on a mortgage — why throw money away? However, the number of those who are unable to pay for housing loans, also reduced. It is reported that in the first nine months of 2019, the issuance of new mortgage loans in Russia fell more than 13%, and a decrease in the number of issued mortgage loans has been observed in 90% of the Russian regions.
Massive tenant is ready to rent apartments in the range of 25-40 thousand rubles per month. Yes and no now this “mass” of the tenant even in Moscow, not to mention the other cities of the country. If you look at Internet sites specializing in real estate, you will notice one interesting feature. Even in the capital the vast majority of ads — it offers landlords or intermediaries. Ads to potential tenants about the housing search virtually absent. Repeat — even in Moscow… what does this mean? That the demand for rental is greatly decreased. Which in turn is another indicator of the decline in living standards in Russia.
So we see that the self-employed in the mass, certainly not bling. In the best case, what they earn is little extra perk, which is certainly not clear.
But the main thing is. Reporting to the head of state, which this report seems like, Siluanov did not mention one detail. Namely, that the average number of people employed in Russia, according to Rosstat, from 2017 to 2018 fell by 281 thousand people. But why upset the chief of the country, when we have quite a optimistic figure of 260 thousand self-employed? And the tasks are quite different — to create for the Russians a positive emotional background information. With its real economic problems each one of them handles himself. But in TV, Newspapers and on the screens of their computers all should be OK!
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