WAGE DISPARITIES ACROSS MUNICIPALITIES IN NORTHERN RUSSIAN REGIONS

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Anna E. Kurilo1, Egor A. Prokopyev2

1, 2Institute of Economics of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk, Russia

1akurilo@mail.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-7222-7832

2e_prokopiev@mail.ru, ORCID 0000-0002-3350-3726

Abstract. Institutionally regulated wage differentiation in Russia’s northern regions, implemented through northern allowances and regional coefficients, remains an important mechanism that compensates for the higher cost of living faced by the local population. The “northern bonus,” originally introduced as an incentive to attract workers to the North, continues to contribute to inter-municipal wage disparities. This article aims to examine the dynamics of intraregional inequality in average wages across municipalities in Russia’s northern regions. The study employs cartographic and statistical methods.  Its originality lies in updating empirical evidence on the scale of territorial wage disparities at the municipal level in northern Russia. Using Rosstat data for 2013–2023, the study identifies intraregional differences in average wages across municipalities. A spatial shift of higher average wages toward the eastern part of the study area is observed. The analysis shows that the highest wage levels are primarily driven by the base wage component rather than northern allowances and regional coefficients, which weakens their compensatory and incentive functions. The Gini coefficient indicates a convergence in average wages, driven by faster wage growth in lower-income municipalities. At the same time, the number of municipalities with wages close to the minimum observed values is increasing. The study confirms the influence of wage levels on intraregional migration of the working-age population, while no such effect is found for interregional migration.  The findings may be used in public policy to support the justification for maintaining northern wage supplements and for adjusting remuneration policies in public sector employment.

Keywords: northern Russia, municipalities, average wages, regional coefficients, northern bonus, inequality

Acknowledgments: This study was conducted at the Institute of Economics of the Karelian Research Centre as part of research project No. 122032200200-2, titled “Comprehensive Research and Development of the Fundamentals of Sustainable Development Management in the Northern and Border Regions of Russia under Global Challenges.”

For citation: Kurilo A. E., Prokopyev E. A. Wage disparities across municipalities in northern Russian regions. Sever i rynok: formirovanie ekonomicheskogo poryadka [The North and the Market: Forming the Economic Order], 2026,  no. 2, pp. 7–24. doi:10.37614/2220-802X.2.2026.92.001.

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