MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Russian wage arrears rose 8.3 percent last month to a new three-year high, affecting half a million people, Federal Statistics Service data showed on Friday.
Arrears, an indicator of stress for companies and a cause of popular protests in Russia's last economic crisis in 1998, stood at 8.755 billion roubles ($262 million) on April 1, compared to 8.087 billion roubles a month earlier.
Russian companies' finances are strained as new funding is hard to come by, while demand for their goods is falling sharply as the country braces for its first recession in a decade.
After the 1998 crisis, companies resorted to paying workers in goods and wage arrears reached $3.8 billion. Unpaid wages sparked social unrest, and the payment of arrears was an issue in Vladimir Putin's 2000 presidential campaign.
This time protests have been relatively small scale so far. But experts warn unrest could intensify if wage arrears and unemployment continue to rise.
The lion's share of arrears, 94.5 percent, was attributed to companies not having enough cash. The rest was due to not receiving local, regional or federal budget funds on time.
Of the sectors, manufacturing accounted for nearly half of the wage arrears. Russia's manufacturers have slashed production due to slumping domestic and global demand, while lower commodity prices have further strained their resources.
Industrial production shrank 13.7 percent year-on-year in March, the second fastest pace of contraction in the series' seven-year history, data showed this week.
Around a fifth of the unpaid wages were in the transport sector, where freight volumes have slumped in line with industrial output while passenger numbers have been hit by Russian consumers tightening their belts.
Construction accounted for 12 percent of arrears and agriculture for 7 percent.
Some 30 percent of the current wage arrears date back to last year, while 8 percent were accumulated even earlier. (Reporting by Toni Vorobyova; editing by Stephen Nisbet)