The article presents the issue of minimum wage, as a labour market institution, which popularity as well as the controversy result from the discrepancy of goals to which this institution leads. Like any economic institution, it should aim at stabilising the economy. First of all, it should provide an income, enabling the reproduction of the human capital. Secondly, it should threaten the entrepreneurs' ability to continue to exist. The purpose of the article is to estimate the size of the minimum wage that meets both demands in specific case of Russia, a country of large regional economic differences. In pursuing the goal of the paper, human capital measurement and remuneration model was used to calculate the income securing the reproduction of human capital. In order to take into account the employer's options, this stream needs to be adapted to the potential of the economy, measured by the labour productivity index.