Обеспеченные (основные характеристики группы)

Results of surveys permit to reliably enough select the well-to-do group that, in our opinion, idoes not exceed 10 percent of the total sample. In July 1994, this group included people having money income over 200,000 rubles per household member a month, and the average income level in this group was, correspondingly, about 500,000 rubles/month. Within this group, males and younger people are prevailing, the proportion of people with higher and incomplete higher education is almost twice greater. The majority of well-to-do people is engaged in the private sector; the major part of this group is made by hired workers; the proportion of executives and specialists is noticeably higher within it. High proportion of the wealthiest people is characteristic of Moscow and St.Petersburg (though the population of these cities is not representative enough in our sample), and on the contrary, it is low on the countryside. Only 4 percent in the selected group rank themselves among well-to-do, rich people, 86 percent among people of medium well-being, and 7 percent even claim they belong to the poor, needy people. Their self-esteem concerning social position is even lower than that of the majority of population. Especially sufficient are gaps in average levels of actual earnings and incomes between the well-to-do minority and the absolute majority of respondents. In our estimation, 10 percent of the wealthiest respondents concentrate in their hands 60 percent of the total amount of personal incomes, uihereas all the rest have only 40 percent. "Well-to-do" respondents sufficiently more often (39 percent of their number against 20 percent in the total sample) prefer to have high incomes though without any guarantees for the future. But even among them, approximately a half nonetheless prefers guaranteed and stable though not high incomes. One-fourth of the well-to-do respondents stated deterioration of the material situation of their families, which is first of all caused by lag between money incomes and rise of consumer prices; though the corresponding subjective assessments sound noticeably better than those of the rest of respondents and more moderate in comparison with decline of their "real" incomes directly depending on relationship between money incomes and consumer prices, whereas the material situation in general to a great extent depends on how their households are supplied with goods. Representatives of the well-to-do layer of population is to a greater extent characterized by optimistic estimates of their possibilities concerning increase of the standard of living: according to their own estimates, it has been enjoyed by 46 percent, but almost the same number (42 percent) give negative answer. Among the rest, such estimates were given by 13 and 74 percent. Optimism of the wealthiest people is manifested in the fact that they to a greater extent are confident in their position, thinking meanwhile that their well-being depends on themselves (45 percent against 64 percent on the average in the sample). Nonetheless, a half of their number (against 64 percent in the sample) thinks that a person's well-being is determined by fair social order. Wealthier respondents, and among them those first of all, who have got an opportunity to raise their standard of living, more often than others show sympathy with the system of market relations and continuation of the reforms, though the present economic situation in Russia is more often than not negatively estimated by them, similarly to the rest of people.