Minimum wage in St. Petersburg from January 1, 2022

The minimum wage is the legally established minimum wage per month.

– The federal minimum wage for 2014 was adopted by federal law dated December 2, 2013 No. 336-FZ and is 5,554.00 rubles.

– Since 2015, the minimum wage has been set at 5,965.00 rubles on the basis of Federal Law dated December 1, 2014 No. 408-FZ.

– In 2016, the minimum wage is 6,204.00 rubles (Federal Law dated December 14, 2015 No. 376-FZ, and from July 1, 2016 increased to 7,500.00 rubles.

– The minimum wage in 2022 is also 7500.00 rubles, and from July 1, 2022 it changed to 7800.00 rubles.

– From January 1, 2022 The minimum wage will increase to 9,489.00 rubles (the State Duma adopted the law on the minimum wage for 2022 on December 15)

Application of the minimum wage

The minimum wage applies to:

• Regulation of wages. In accordance with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, wages in any organization for a full month worked cannot be less than the minimum wage
• Determination of the minimum amount of benefits for temporary disability, pregnancy and childbirth.
• Determination of the amount of taxes, fees and fines and other payments, which are calculated in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation depending on the minimum wage (each region has its own amount, which is set individually in this region.)

In accordance with Article 133 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the minimum wage is established simultaneously throughout the entire territory of the Russian Federation by federal law. Subjects of the Russian Federation, in accordance with Article 133.1, can establish a higher minimum wage on their territory.

Raising wages benefits not only ordinary workers, but also the government. After all, it is from the new value that taxes sent to budgetary and other funds are calculated. It is worth noting that from now on, workers working for the minimum wage will no longer receive 11 thousand 700 rubles for a full working day. Income tax is deducted from this amount, and as a result, organizations are obliged to transfer to their employees at least 10 thousand 179 rubles (

Minimum wage in St. Petersburg in 2022

The federal minimum wage, which was established by law, is 12,130 rubles. This money, regardless of the employee’s region of residence, is paid from the state budget.

The regional wage level is financed by those employers in St. Petersburg who took part in a tripartite agreement to increase wages for their region.

In addition to the minimum payments, the tripartite agreement also establishes for residents of St. Petersburg the tariff rate for an employee of the first labor category. Its size is exactly 14,300 rubles.

Thus, employers in a given region have every right to set a similar salary for their workers in any amount, but this figure should not be lower than the amount established at the federal level. If an employer wants to significantly increase the amount of such payments, then he can use a variety of monetary rewards, bonuses and other incentives for this.

At the same time, the salary in St. Petersburg should not be lower than it is established by law. At the same time, every employer must remember that the wages of his subordinates in this region should not be less than the amount of 19,000 rubles.

For employees, wages that exceed the minimum level should be accrued only to those employees who are employed full-time with a 40-hour work week. But, above the minimum payments there are charges for processing, for harmfulness and in the presence of other similar factors.

If the employee is registered not at a full rate, but at 1.5, then the amount of the minimum wage should be appropriate; it should be an amount 1.5 times higher than the minimum wage for a given region.

Minimum wage in St. Petersburg

The minimum wage is established by the regional minimum wage agreement, namely:

• the agreement is concluded by the Government of St. Petersburg,
• interregional association “Federation of Trade Unions of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region”,
• regional association of employers “Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of St. Petersburg”.

The minimum wage applies to employees working in St. Petersburg, except for employees of budgetary organizations. The minimum wage is established taking into account socio-economic conditions and the cost of living of the working population in St. Petersburg and cannot be lower than the minimum wage in the Russian Federation (

Minimum wage in St. Petersburg

The institution of the minimum wage, by its legal nature, is intended to establish the minimum amount of money that should be guaranteed to the employee as remuneration for the performance of labor duties, taking into account the subsistence level.

According to the rules of Part 3 of Article 133.1 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation:

Based on Article 133.1 of the Labor Code, the regional minimum wage is mandatory for use as part of the remuneration of employees of state institutions financed from the budgets of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as municipal institutions. Federal government, budgetary and autonomous institutions are not required to apply the regional minimum wage.

Minimum wage changes

The minimum salary is indexed annually. In 2022, due to the crisis, changes affected this value only once, in January. Now the minimum salary has increased by 4,300 rubles compared to last year. Its value now amounts to 16 thousand rubles. If we take statistics on changes in the minimum wage over the past five years, then the total amount of increase is 8,700 rubles.

The federal minimum wage isn't that high yet. By 2022, the Government of the Russian Federation plans to equalize the minimum wage and subsistence level for the entire country, as required by law.

In St. Petersburg, at the regional level, the Presidential Decree to equalize the cost of living and the minimum wage has already been implemented. Per capita, the amount required for living is 10 thousand 449 rubles, while the minimum wage is more than 5 thousand rubles more than this amount.

Table. Minimum salary in St. Petersburg in 2017

Regulatory framework for the minimum wage 2022

Few people know that from January 1, 2022, the minimum wage was established at the federal level. The amount of such accrual is 12,130 rubles. This figure is taken from the cost of living of a citizen of the Russian Federation for the second quarter of 2022. Only able-bodied people were selected for comparison.

When the cost of living of citizens in the current year was slightly reduced in comparison with the previous year, then next year the size of the minimum wage will not change at all. The calculation takes into account the second quarter of each year.

Starting from 2022, the minimum wage has been established in St. Petersburg - 19,000 rubles. Last year it was 18,000. The figure was changed due to the fact that the cost of living increased by 1,000 rubles.

Tripartite agreements are taken into account when establishing the regional minimum wage.

Minimum wage for 2022

On September 20, 2022, the signing ceremony of the Regional Agreement on the Minimum Wage in St. Petersburg for 2022 took place. Traditionally, it is signed by representatives of the regional government, trade unions and employers' union.

This Agreement establishes that the minimum wage from January 1, 2022 is 17,000 rubles. And the tariff rate (salary) of a 1st category worker cannot be less than 13,500 rubles.

In accordance with the regional Agreement on the minimum wage in St. Petersburg 2022, the specified amount of the “minimum wage” is mandatory for all employer-organizations and individual entrepreneurs who operate in the territory of St. Petersburg and have concluded this Agreement or acceded to it, with the exception of organizations financed from the federal budget (clause 4.1 of the Agreement).

Table. Minimum salary in St. Petersburg in 2022

Current legislation obliges employers to pay wages not lower than the federal minimum wage. At the same time, regional authorities have the right to set their own indicator, which will be higher than that established for the country as a whole.

If a company or individual entrepreneurs, for various reasons, cannot pay the regional minimum wage, it is possible to apply with a reasoned refusal. Employers registered in St. Petersburg must contact the Committee on Labor and Employment. The deadline for submission is up to 30 days from the date of official publication of the proposal to join the agreement on the regional minimum wage in the media or on the websites of the executive authorities of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

The difference between the regional minimum wage and the federal one

The regional procedure for determining the minimum wage differs from the federal procedure in the following points:

• the federal minimum wage cannot be lower than the minimum wage of the working population in the Russian Federation as a whole, the regional minimum wage must be higher than the federal minimum wage;
• The federal minimum wage is set annually; for the regional minimum wage, the frequency of approval is not determined;
• federal is determined by law, regional by agreement of employers, employees and local authorities.

Also, the regional minimum wage does not apply to employees of federal institutions and government agencies. The tripartite agreement is published in official local media. Employers of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation have 30 calendar days to send a reasoned written response to the authorized government body (which one will be indicated in the publication or you need to find out yourself).

If this is not done, the employer is automatically considered to have acceded to the tripartite agreement. This obliges the employer to apply this minimum wage when setting wages for employees. The refusal must be justified, but the legislator does not establish any requirements for motivation.

Refusal from the regional minimum wage in St. Petersburg 2022

Many employers are interested in the question: can they refuse to pay the regional minimum wage, while still complying with the federal minimum wage?

The adoption of the regional minimum wage level confirms the automatic accession of all employers to this project. In addition, regional authorities undertake to publish a special proposal to join the agreement. After this publication, the employer has the right to refuse such affiliation within 30 days.

In this case, the manager must send a document with a motivational refusal, which must clearly state the reason for such non-agreement. When such a refusal is approved, then the manager has the right to charge his workers the federal minimum wage.

In order for the refusal to pay the regional minimum wage to be approved, the employer must prepare and send to the appropriate department a package of the following documents:

• notification that the manager refuses to take part in the agreement;
• protocol of the company's consultation with union employees;
• proposals from the employer regarding the timing of increasing wages for their employees at the regional minimum wage level.

Only after approval of this refusal, the employer has the right to charge its employees the federal minimum wage.

What will be the minimum wage in 2022 in St. Petersburg?

Most likely, it will be increased, since, firstly, the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, said that during the development of a new trilateral agreement, the task is to increase the level of wages in the Northern capital to a decent one (at least 100,000 rubles per month). Secondly, the size of the St. Petersburg minimum wage has been growing annually since 2009, although not always evenly, but recently the annual increase has amounted to significant amounts.

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