Employment and labour payment in the cultural sector: outcomes of the budget reform and the May decrees

This paper analyzes the results of budget reform in the cultural sector through the prism of transformations concerned with issues of employment and labour payment. Special attention is given to assessing the implementation of the May Decrees of the President of the Russian Federation of 2012 in terms of increasing wages for employees of cultural institutions. It is shown that the increase in wages for cultural employees occurred simultaneously with a reduction in the number of people employed in this area. Despite the declarative reporting of officials on the implementation of the May decrees to increase wages, in the cultural sphere these standards were met only in relation to the federal and regional segment, while in the vast majority of municipal cultural institutions the specified standard were not achieved. As a result of budget reform, employment in the cultural sector fell by more than 10% from 2012 to 2022, and wages reached 75% of the average wage in the economy, which continues to indicate the low status of professions in this field.