Russian wage arrears hit 2.9 bln rubles in April, Rosstat says

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Total wage arrears in Russia reached 2.9 billion rubles ($35 million) by the end of April, increasing by 35% in one month, according to Rosstat data. Year-on-year, the increase was nearly double, up 94%.

More than half of the accumulated debt — 55.1% — was incurred in the current year. Another 34.2% dates back to 2025, while the remaining portion of debt stretches back to 2024 and earlier periods.

Despite the rise in absolute figures, the proportion of employees experiencing payment delays remains relatively small — less than 1% of the total employed workforce.

The largest concentration of debt is in several key sectors. The highest share is in the electricity, gas, and steam supply sector, including air conditioning systems — 42.3%. This is followed by the construction sector at 22.5%, and manufacturing at 20.4%.

Smaller but significant portions of debt are found in mining (2.8%), water supply, sewage, and waste management (2.7%), as well as agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing, and aquaculture (2.3%). Scientific and technical activities account for 1.6% of the debt.

Isolated cases of delays have also been recorded in real estate (1.4%), transportation and storage (1.2%), and trade and motor vehicle repair (1.2%). In other sectors, the combined share of debt remains below 1%.