Saturday, March 16, 2019

Crisis


NO END TO THE CRISIS

A recent survey finds that while the rich cut back on
on education, the poor increase expenditure

By Stephen Wilson


A well-qualified accountant in Moscow can't find a job after one year, a
father suddenly loses his job so can only afford to let his children
have English lessons once a week as opposed to two and the head
of a German company with a branch in Moscow worries about how
his sales might be adversely affected by Russians purchasing less
cars and hence less lights. Practically everyone can express a story
of how either their salaries or future job prospects have been hit
by a stagnant and paralyzed economy which has hardly recovered
at all, but on the contrary, seems to have stalled. If you have any
doubts about this just drop into the high rise buildings around Moscow
and on the front door of the closes is written an ominous warning that
'Those tenants who refuse to pay their bills for household utilities will
face court action.' Those posters stuck on doors seem to have mushroomed
indicating a numerous rise in debt among Russians. It also confirms
a recent survey by the Atlantic center that over the past years most
Russians have spent almost half their income on food alone. The survey
found that over the last 5 years  the share of income spent on food has
risen by 5.6%. The number of Russians in debt have increased as easy
the light loans are made available.

One of the daunting challenges facing Russians is how to find a decent
paid job in not only towns outside Moscow, but in the very city itself which
is supposed to symbolize a beacon of tantalizing and alluring opportunities.
When you encounter highly qualified and experienced professionals
in Moscow complaining of how difficult it is to find a job then you quickly
grasp this economy is in grave trouble. A recent survey of the average
pay of personal who work in schools {Not just teachers but janitors, cooks,
cleaners and teachers}, found the average salary in Moscow was 59,500
rubles ($982) and in Saint Petersburg it came to 34,000. The average salary in Russia
was 37,000 rubles a month in 2018 according to the agency {РИА Рейтинг}.
I came across one student who informed me that her sister, a highly-qualified
ecologist was pondering over whether to take up a school teacher post in a
school just 100 km from Moscow for the salary of 11,000 rubles. Since it
might be one of the few jobs available in this village the student advised her
to take up the post which is in the Tula region.

However, one finding of the Atlantic survey found that despite the deepening
crisis, the poor  are spending more of their income on education
while the richer are cutting back. How can we explain this? It could be that the
survey fails to take into account that many of the rich are sending their children
to either English or German boarding schools abroad. But it could well be that
poorer people view education as a means of breaking out of poverty and they
want their children to do well. Every tutor in Russia can confirm that many of
the parents of their pupils don't always have good incomes . There is a growing
trend for some parents to pay for lessons once a week rather than twice a
week. A lot of the parents can't afford to pay for more than one lesson even if
tutors agree to a lower price. And parents make enormous sacrifices to ensure
their children attain good school exam results or master a key profession. Only
yesterday I met one vendor who works night and day in a kiosk. When I often
pass her she is struggling to keep her eyes open. One day, she asked me: 
"Are you from the Baltic republics?" I answered I was from Scotland. When we
got into a discussion it emerged she was a highly-educated migrant who had
come to Moscow to support her son who was training to be a cardiologist at
a medical school in Moscow. She was from Kirghizya. Like many poor migrants
and low paid workers in Moscow, they are sacrificing a lot of their income to
pay or support the education of their children. The overwhelming evidence does
not support ill-conceived notions that Russians are poor because of unwise spending
habits, or over-borrowing. On the contrary, the poorest are very careful with how
they spend their money and diligently use it. They are unlikely to go on some
rash spending spree which would lead to them being unable to pay the rent and
thus facing eviction. In fact, it is  the government who has more to learn from the poor
than vice versa.

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