There are more sanctions here than in North Korea, Syria and Iran (summed together!) How do we survive?!#russia #lifeinrussia #lifeinrussiaundersanctions #sa...
But doesn't both the US and Russia have their salaries/wages lower relative to their prices though? I'm not sure how many Russians are below their median wage but in the US, it's something like 50% of earners are below the median US wage.
Eli mentioned that inflation had hit Russia ("prices are higher than 2 years ago, but when weren't they rising?" ~2:08 in) but from what she said, it seems like the rise is not as bad. In the US, what I'm noticing is that the rise in prices have been sharper in comparison to, in this instance, Russia. The inflation rate in the US for 2022 was listed as 8.0% - way above the 1.5% to 3.5% we usually notice. For 2023, the rate was 4.1% - still high for most US wage earners. I was barely at the median US wage for 2022 and 2023 and those grocery prices hurt back then. While with 2024 being an election year there is some calm in prices, we have the stagflation storm coming to the US.
I don't think your mom is exaggerating, especially with regards to the ruble. But I do think people underestimate how bad things have gotten in the imperial core. People here can barely afford to eat and most are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Yeah, we might be cool zone imminent (doubtful).
Uh, a median wage will always have 50 percent of people above and below it, because that's how a median is defined: as the middle of a number sequence.
I think you meant the average wage, which is ~$60,000 in the US and in Russia it's $15,000 (nominal) or $41,333 (PPP*). For reference, the average income for Poland is $21,000 (nominal) or $49,000 (PPP*).
Two-thirds of Americans earn below $60,000. Russia's income inequality is similar to that in the US: both seem to have a Gini coefficient around 0.4.
Therefore, we can assume that it's a similar distribution in Russia, aka two-thirds earning below $15,000 (nominal) or $41,333 (PPP*).
(*2022 PPP values from OECD)
Taxation also affects things. An NYT article mentions this (April 27, 2024):
Most Russians pay income tax at a flat rate of 13 percent, significantly lower than what taxpayers in the United States and Western Europe typically pay. In an interview in March, Mr. Putin said he planned to introduce a new progressive tax scale in part to alleviate poverty, a popular message among many Russians who support increasing taxes on the country’s rich, which have historically been low.
The article is about the government looking to raise the tax rate to 15 percent for people earning above $10,000 (nominal).
Using official statistics, consumer prices in Russia since February 2022 have risen by 20-21% in total. For the same time period it's 14% in the European Union and 10% in the United States. This is similar to their inflation rates for 2022+2023. If I add up month-on-month CPI increases for the period by hand, it's 56% for Russia, 18% for the EU, and 40% for the US. I don't know where that discrepancy comes from, did I do something wrong? I used Consumer Price Index data from Tradingeconomics.com
Finally there's incomes. Wage growth in the EU and US is on average similar to their inflation rates. But in Russia it's 36%, significantly higher than the inflation rate of 21%. Of course there's the matter of how that growth is distributed, but at a first glance it suggests that not as many Russians suffer from the higher prices as the high inflation rate would suggest, though this will vary by region.
But doesn't both the US and Russia have their salaries/wages lower relative to their prices though? I'm not sure how many Russians are below their median wage but in the US, it's something like 50% of earners are below the median US wage.
Eli mentioned that inflation had hit Russia ("prices are higher than 2 years ago, but when weren't they rising?" ~2:08 in) but from what she said, it seems like the rise is not as bad. In the US, what I'm noticing is that the rise in prices have been sharper in comparison to, in this instance, Russia. The inflation rate in the US for 2022 was listed as 8.0% - way above the 1.5% to 3.5% we usually notice. For 2023, the rate was 4.1% - still high for most US wage earners. I was barely at the median US wage for 2022 and 2023 and those grocery prices hurt back then. While with 2024 being an election year there is some calm in prices, we have the stagflation storm coming to the US.
I don't think your mom is exaggerating, especially with regards to the ruble. But I do think people underestimate how bad things have gotten in the imperial core. People here can barely afford to eat and most are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Yeah, we might be cool zone imminent (doubtful).
Uh, a median wage will always have 50 percent of people above and below it, because that's how a median is defined: as the middle of a number sequence.
I think you meant the average wage, which is ~$60,000 in the US and in Russia it's $15,000 (nominal) or $41,333 (PPP*). For reference, the average income for Poland is $21,000 (nominal) or $49,000 (PPP*). Two-thirds of Americans earn below $60,000. Russia's income inequality is similar to that in the US: both seem to have a Gini coefficient around 0.4. Therefore, we can assume that it's a similar distribution in Russia, aka two-thirds earning below $15,000 (nominal) or $41,333 (PPP*). (*2022 PPP values from OECD)
Taxation also affects things. An NYT article mentions this (April 27, 2024):
Using official statistics, consumer prices in Russia since February 2022 have risen by 20-21% in total. For the same time period it's 14% in the European Union and 10% in the United States. This is similar to their inflation rates for 2022+2023. If I add up month-on-month CPI increases for the period by hand, it's 56% for Russia, 18% for the EU, and 40% for the US. I don't know where that discrepancy comes from, did I do something wrong? I used Consumer Price Index data from Tradingeconomics.com
Finally there's incomes. Wage growth in the EU and US is on average similar to their inflation rates. But in Russia it's 36%, significantly higher than the inflation rate of 21%. Of course there's the matter of how that growth is distributed, but at a first glance it suggests that not as many Russians suffer from the higher prices as the high inflation rate would suggest, though this will vary by region.
Consumer Price Index, month-on-month change in percentage points
Blue: Russia
Green: European Union
Red: United States