OREANDA-NEWS. February 03, 2012. Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov charged the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and Ministry of Social Policy to study the issue of economically justified increase of the level of payment and offer appropriate mechanisms to stimulate growth in the share of payment for labor in production costs. The Head of Government said this, opening a Cabinet session.

"I empower the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Ministry of Social Policy to study deeply the economically justified level of increase of payment for labor and offer appropriate mechanisms to stimulate growth in the share of wages. We will discuss these mechanisms with the social partners and society to define a balanced path of fair growth of labor income" - Mykola Azarov said.

According to him, fair wages - a special concern of the Government and the main item in the dialogue with trade unions and employers. "Direct path to higher labor income is a sustainable economic growth and productivity improvements. Improving the economic situation of a fast rotating wage growth", - the Prime Minister stated. He added that it was in the early 2000s, until 2004, when most in the history of Ukraine growth was accompanied by growth of real wages doubled. On December 2011 the average salary was more than 3 thousand UAH, which is almost 40% more than two years ago.

But now, as he said, pre-crisis purchasing power has not yet recovered (this should only expect this year), and the problem of fair payment for labor is not fixed. "So we need a responsible public policy to overcome the gap" - Mykola Azarov said.

However, according to him, we need mechanisms of labor income in cases where the state has a legitimate and natural right. This is particularly pertinent for equitable redistribution of income or extremely high exploitation of mineral resources, "Our export is largely based on commodity sectors and the share of wages in the cost of production of these industries the lowest. Thus, citizens of Ukraine get income from mineral resources, which belong to the people, to a lesser extent. It is unfair and it's one of the things that must be changed".

Mykola Azarov noted that in this issue should be a counter movement: the state creates the conditions and business meets the fair increase in wages.