"If productivity grew just like we increased wages, the economy would be in a completely different state," he said.
He defined the problem correctly, however, he did not mention the where it came from.

Meanwhile, it is unfortunate that the Russian political leadership limits its actions to hopeless dreams on this key issue.
This really is a key issue, which has in front of our leaders for years. And, according to data from Russia's statistical agency Rosstat, the country cannot solve this issue the way we all want it to be settled.

Productivity growth in the past year was 3.8% - not enough to be able to compete with the developed countries, or even with China or India, where poor productivity is covered by cheap labor.

The economic part of the government is optimistic.

The Minister of Economic Development Andrey Belousov recently declared that "we can double labor productivity in 10-12 years if we renovate equipment." Such optimism, however, does not correspond to daily statistics.

The reasons for this are known. There is a low level of innovation, which some naïve people think can be increased by such ambitious projects like "Skolkovo." In addition, there are huge transaction costs associated with the monopoly infrastructure companies, corruption, excessive centralism management, and politically motivated social promises to the population. Finally, there is an unpleasant investment climate.

The list of objective reasons linked to weaknesses of Russia's social and economic situation is not complete, but in general, it is clear what the government should have as its priority.

Unfortunately, issue has another side. We love to boast. The "Public Opinion" fund has recently published a poll about how Russians treat labor.

Some 90% of questioned called themselves hard working. Over 55% said they think the Russian people are hard working.

It is, indeed, very nice to hear of Russian's high self-esteem, but in reality it just isn't so. It is doubtful that employers would commend the working enthusiasm of their employees.

Self-delusion is a nice thing. Moreover, it can really give grandeur and enhances self-esteem, even on the scale of an entire country. But it would be nice if it actually produced efficiency and productivity.