In particular, the income that can be used for the purchase of goods and services grew by 28.7%, and real income, determined taking into account the price factor, by 18.9%.
In addition, the Committee notes, compared with July 2006, the nominal incomes of Ukrainians grew by 1.5%, while disposable and real incomes by 4%. Calculated per person, it turns out that incomes in August increased on average by 30 hryvnias, or from 723 to 752 hryvnias.
However, despite the growth in incomes, Ukrainians have to spend more than they receive. Thus, expenditures in January-August of this year compared with the analogous period of 2005 grew by 33%.
For comparison, according to information from the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, the incomes of Russians in the first half of 2006 compared with last year grew by 22%. Thus, the monetary incomes of Russians amounted to about one and a half trillion rubles, which is 26.7% more than in 2005. In turn, expenditures amounted to 1.3 trillion rubles, that is, they increased by 22.5%.
It is worth noting that on October 4 the Ukrainian parliament supported a draft law on the size of the minimum wage. The draft law proposes to set the size of the minimum wage at the level of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons. The necessity of establishing such a wage level is motivated by the fact that its amount must ensure the normal functioning of the body of an able-bodied person, the preservation of their health, as well as the possibility of purchasing a minimum set of services and goods necessary to satisfy the basic social and cultural needs of a person, according to the explanatory note to the draft law.
"For" voted 228 people's deputies. It is noteworthy that the draft law was supported by all factions except the deputies of the Party of Regions. At the same time, on October 3 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution providing for stepping up work on reducing wage arrears in the country's regions.
According to the resolution, the lowest wages in Ukraine remain in Ternopil, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia oblasts. "Despite the high rates of wage growth, its amount in Ternopil, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia oblasts remains the lowest among the regions and amounts respectively to 694.2 hryvnias, 736.4 hryvnias, 748.7 hryvnias and 750.3 hryvnias," note the Cabinet of Ministers.
An increase in wage arrears as of October in 16 regions. Its highest rates are in Zakarpattia oblast – 2.1 times, in Kharkiv oblast – by 57.6%, Odesa oblast – by 48.7%, Rivne oblast – by 39.6%, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast – by 29.8%, Zaporizhzhia oblast – by 15.7% and in Kyiv – by 59.6%.
At the same time, according to the document, in August the wage arrears to employees of economically active enterprises belonging to the sphere of management of the Ministry of Coal Industry were fully repaid, in the amount of 133 million hryvnias that had accumulated in 2005-2006.