St. Petersburg Firms To Raise Wages, Hire Staff

By Maria Buravtseva

Vedomosti

Published: November 21, 2012 (Issue # 1736)

Employers in St. Petersburg are only raising employees’ salaries to match inflation, but almost half plan to take on new staff in the coming year.

Sixty-nine percent of Russian companies intended to increase salaries in the second half of 2012 and in 2013, according to analysts at the recruitment consulting company Case, who collected data from 80,000 employees from 618 companies, including 15,000 workers from 89 companies based in St. Petersburg. The average raise in St. Petersburg will be 8 percent in the second half of this year and 10 percent in 2013. On average, salaries in Russia will increase by 8 and 9 percent respectively in the same period. During the same time period, according to Case, 44 percent of companies plan to expand their number of staff, and the same number said they would retain their current staff levels. Ten percent of companies intend to reduce their number of employees.

The average salary in St. Petersburg, according to Case, is 56,627 rubles ($1,800) per month, although after discounting salaries received by top managers, that figure stands at 37,993 rubles ($1,200).

The automobile industry has become the driving force behind the wage increases in St. Petersburg; both car manufacturers and component suppliers have raised salaries, said Maria Margulis, director of the 1000 Kadrov recruitment agency. According to data from SuperJob, salaries in St. Petersburg’s automobile industry range from 18,000 to 43,000 rubles ($575-1,370). Toyota and Hyundai increase the salaries of staff at their manufacturing plants every year, say representatives. Car manufacturers are also actively taking on new staff, said Margulis. In September 2012, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Russia switched to a double-shift work schedule and by that point had taken on and trained 600 new employees, a company representative said.

Software developer Reksoft raised the salaries of staff considered key to business by 10 percent on average this year, Olga Barmash, director of human resources at Reksoft, said via the company’s press office. The number of technical specialists employed by the company increased by 10 percent this year and further recruitment is planned for 2013, she said. The job market in the IT sphere is a candidates’ market, and there is intense competition for experienced specialists between all technology companies working in the city, both international and Russian, she added.

Companies are compelled to raise their employees’ salaries to at least match inflation, although finding the means to do so is not easy because of the high tax burden, said Margulis. According to her, due to the increase in prices and the cost of housing and public amenities, this salary increase is essential in order to motivate employees to continue to work for a company.