The Average Wage in the North-West Federal District: An Assessment of Territorial Disparities on a Settlement Level

Introduction. Effective management of regional socioeconomic development processes is not possible without an objective understanding of impact on the economy exerted by internal territorial disparities. The lack of open data in the official statistics concerning settlements and displaying such a basic indicator as an average wage does not contribute to the task also. For the first time, the suggested solution of the following problem is to use an alternative source of data ‒ Russian form of personal income tax (5-NDFL) tax reports. The goal of the article is to determine territorial disparities between average wages on the settlement level in the North-West Federal District. Materials and Methods. The research covers all municipalities of the North-West Federal District from 2015 to 2020. Average wages in urban and rural settlements, municipal districts and city districts were calculated based on the analysis of 7947 5-NDFL tax reports. A comparison was made with the data from the official statistics. The coefficient of variation and the Gini index were calculated for each area and the North-West District in whole as well as the difference between progressive and regressive types of average wages. Mappings were made for selected municipal areas. Results. Based on the data extracted from 5-NDFL forms, the research suggests a method of average wage calculation in municipalities. The proof is given that the following tax reports can be viewed as an appropriate source of data for determination of income inequality in case of settlements. It is established that territorial disparities in the Federal District have decreased due to the slight growth of average and median wages. Through the example of selected municipal districts, the research displays the existing difference in wages amid urban and rural settlements and also indicates the decisive role of the area center in the consolidated regional scores. Discussion and Conclusion. A comparative analysis of inequality indicators in wages has revealed higher values of territorial disparities at the settlement level. In practical terms, the transition from district values of indicators to settlement values in the state monitoring system makes it possible to increase the objectivity of assessing ongoing processes and improve the quality of managerial decision-making.