Increase of the level of the minimum wage as an instrument of overcome of the high level of population's income differentiation in the regional economy

The article considers possibilities of using of the minimum wage regulation tools as a method of managing the level of population income differentiation in the conditions of the regional economy. The concept of the minimum wage and the process of its evolution as a tool of state policy in the social sphere is studied. The role of the minimum wage as a mechanism for managing the least affluent segments of the population incomes is analyzed. Attention is paid to the importance of this tool from the perspective of potential growth of labor productivity and increasing the degree of automation and robotization of production processes. The article discusses the potential of increasing personal income tax revenues, fees to the pension fund, the mandatory medical insurance fund, as well as the social insurance fund by the changing of the level of the minimum wage and, this way, reducing the share of “grey payments”. In the article calculates potential options for increasing the minimum wage in the conditions of the regional economy in the Russian Federation, and also provides possible consequences of these measures from the perspective of the expenditure part of the budget. Potential positive and negative consequences of increasing the minimum wage in the short and medium term have been carried out.