Methods of estimating the level and differentiation of population income

On the basis of data for 2013-2017, the article shows changes in the level, structure and differentiation of the Russian population monetary income after the introduction by Rosstat in 2018 of a new methodology for calculating macro-economic indicators of population monetary income by separate income sources. Comparative analysis of the calculations made by the 1996 and 2018 methods shows significant changes only in the structure of population monetary income, mainly in such income items as work remuneration of employees and other cash receipts. Average per capita income changed slightly (+/-1%). Besides, there are actually no changes in the indicators of differentiation and in the distribution series for population by income despite the fact that the estimation of population inequality was made using the data from the Sample Survey of Population Income (SSPI) instead of the Household Budget Survey (HBS) used before. Based on the data from the Sample Survey of Population Income for 2013-2017, the article shows the relationship between the indicators of wage differentiation and per capita monetary income that differ from the official data, and in our opinion, this is due not only to different information sources, but also to the methods of income inequality estimation for the total population. The article provides variants of calculating differentiation of the RF population monetary income for 2018 using logarithmic normal model with similar per capita monetary income of the total population and different number of the population with per capita income within the range of the set minimum income. As a result, the R/P10% ratio of the RF population income increases in comparison with the officially published indicators of inequality.