SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO DETERMINE THE LEVEL OF LABOR PAYMENT IN UKRAINE

Abstract

In the system of socio-economic levers of human livelihoods management, wages are almost the main economic category on which not only the living standard of population depends, but also social calmness in society. As a category of production, labor payment is an essential stimulating factor for raising labor productivity, its quality, cost of its payment, pricing and competitiveness of products, quality and living conditions of people in general.
Hence, given the stable conditions of economic environment and economic policy of the state, the most significant problem of regulation and management of wages is the scientific justification of its level. It is to this problem that economics has recently begun to pay minimal attention to. The activities developing by economics are aimed primarily at poverty eradication that, under current economic situation, certainly requires the increased attention of society. However, concerning establishing a certain level of wages, there are no radical scientific and practical solutions in economics.
The article focuses on the development of methodological approaches to quantifying the level of labor payment based on two main criteria: economic opportunities of economic entities and the threshold of social perceptibility of the level of labor payment and incentive payments, as well as the methodology for the formation of a minimum wage. Methods for identifying the reserves for a possible increase in average wages are also proposed. Calculations have been made on the example of indicators of the industry of Ukraine in 2008-2015, confirming the likelihood of the proposed methodology and patterns that reveal factors of wage changes.