Leonid Brezhnev once said in 1981 that “the economy must be economical.” That sentiment is back in vogue — modesty is becoming fashionable again. And Moscow, the capital of Russian fashion, including economic fashion, has rushed to change its image by announcing a 15% reduction in the size of the city’s administrative workforce.

But this announcement is, at its core, an attempt to make it look like the city is taking its responsibilities seriously, cutting back on excess in a time of war. What many people do not know is that the staff formally employed by the mayor’s office — that is, official civil servants — make up just a minority of the workforce. The real waste is elsewhere.

Since Sergei Sobyanin became mayor in 2010, the Moscow city administration has relied on outsourcing. Each department has a modest number of officials, but they work alongside a vast network of contracted nonprofit organizations and private companies.

This system applies across all departments, from the press service to urban improvement services. As a rule, the leadership holds civil service positions. By law, they receive excellent salaries plus a pension equal to 70% of their salary after completing 15 years of service.

In addition to their base salary, they receive a host of additional payments, including one-time bonuses, monthly, quarterly, and annual bonuses, compensation for irregular working hours, and more. Once all that is taken into account, their pension amounts to around 40-50%of their total income. But still, you must admit, that’s not bad at all.

The people contracted to work for the city receive none of that. Their salaries follow market rates. Moreover,........

© The Moscow Times