The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) has proposed increasing the minimum unemployment benefit to the level of the subsistence level in the region. Izvestia got acquainted with the corresponding appeal of the organization on Thursday, July 30.
At the same time, the FNPR believes that the maximum payment should be set at the level of the average salary in the subject. In addition, the allowance must compensate for at least half of the lost earnings. The Ministry of Labor of Russia assured that they would study these proposals from the trade unions and said that this year payments to the unemployed had already been increased.
“Unemployment benefit is not designed as a permanent replacement for earned income. This is a support measure that allows a citizen to provide a minimum income while looking for a job, ”the press service of the Ministry of Labor noted.
At the moment, the minimum allowance in Russia is 4.5 thousand rubles (before the pandemic it was 1.5 thousand rubles), the maximum is 12.1 thousand rubles.
It is assumed that the national average size of the allowance, calculated at the suggestion of trade unions, would have amounted to 11,700-50,700 rubles.
Last week, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said the government would allocate 20 billion rubles to Russian regions to pay unemployment benefits.
In early July, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the hope that a sharp jump in unemployment in the country due to the spread of the coronavirus could be avoided.