According to the State Statistics Committee, as of May 5, 2005, the average wage in Volyn region is 503.64 UAH. A lower average salary level (478.31 UAH) exists only in Ternopil region. The average monthly figure for Ukraine is 722.01 UAH.
These same data were effectively confirmed on May 16 by Volodymyr Kets, head of the main department of labor and social protection of the population of the Volyn Regional State Administration. Moreover, he noted, the region ranks last in Ukraine in terms of wage growth rates. According to him, if the situation is not corrected, serious personnel changes will have to be made in the local "social protection" system.
According to Nataliya Safonova, head of the territorial state labor inspection and chief state labor inspector of the region, her agency is not to blame for this. During January-April of this year, 402 inspections were conducted in the region of 349 business entities of all forms of ownership, including 109 debtor entrepreneurs. 79 officials were fined, and the regional prosecutor's office opened 12 criminal cases on facts of wage non-payment.
The most violations of labor legislation were found in the regional consumer cooperation system. Among the most typical are the absence of double pay for overtime work, weekends and holidays. As a result, the wages of employees of consumer cooperation enterprises operating in rural areas are extremely low.