ФІНАНСОВІ ІМПЕРАТИВИ ЯКОСТІ ЖИТТЯ НАСЕЛЕННЯ В УКРАЇНІ В УМОВАХ ІНКЛЮЗИВНОГО ЕКОНОМІЧНОГО РОЗВИТКУ

Abstract

The main financial imperatives of the quality of life of the population in Ukraine are considered in the article. Different approaches to quality of life assessment are shown. The minimum state social standards - the subsistence level, the minimum wage and the minimum pension - were taken as financial imperatives for the study. It is proved that the official subsistence level is much lower than the actual one, so it does not allow to maintain life at a normal level, as well as to provide reliable social protection. The authors argue that it is necessary to reconsider the methodological approach to its definition. Most items in the approved consumer basket in Ukraine do not take into account the vital costs determined by modern realities. The dynamics of the minimum wage in Ukraine in 2010-2021 is presented. During this period, its annual growth on the average on 500 hryvnias is observed. It is noted that the growth rate of household income was higher than the growth rate of GDP, and this is contrary to basic economic patterns. During 2017-2021, it was possible to increase the size of the minimum wage in Ukraine, which became more than 2 times the subsistence level, but it remains 15 times lower than in developed countries. The authors concluded that the usual voluntary increase in the minimum wage will increase contributions to the state budget for some time, but this cannot be the only and permanent way to improve the quality of life and it does not affect all segments of the working population. The analysis of the minimum pension showed that it is currently equal to the subsistence level for disabled people, so it does not guarantee pensioners a normal quality of life, the minimum pension is 1.8 million pensioners, a quarter of Ukrainian pensioners (2.7 million) continue to work. The causal relationship between inclusive economic growth and improving the welfare of the population is shown. The leitmotif of the article is the idea that improving the quality of life of the population should not occur only in the plane of distributive relations. The authors substantiate that economic reforms should be carried out for the sake of increasing employment; the usual nominal increase in financial imperatives of quality of life will not lead to its significant improvement.