Economics
Putin Revives Soviet Deal of Pretend-Work-and-Pay to Hide Crisis
Can Russia Weather a Recession Coupled With Cheap Oil?
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Soviet workers knew they got a raw deal, and they played along. “We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us,” went a popular saying.
About a million job gains into Russia’s recession, the bargain still holds, with salaries plunging at a pace unprecedented under President Vladimir Putin. Data set to be released this week will probably show unemployment holding at less than half the rate in the euro region, which has had nine consecutive quarters of growth. It’s a sign of a tacit deal that has ravaged productivity and limited economic flexibility.