MOSCOW, March 29 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pointed to record low unemployment and marginally higher real wages as evidence of a gradual economic recovery, although data showed that consumer demand and industrial output dropped in February. Data from the Rosstat federal statistics service showed that unemployment dropped to 3.5% in February, a record low, while real wages, which are adjusted for inflation, rose 0.6% in January. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer demand, fell 7.8% year-on-year in February, while industrial output dropped 1.7%. But that decline, combined with double-digit inflation meant that real disposable incomes fell 1% in 2022, according to Rosstat, with real wages only now starting to pick up again. "The population's wages and real disposable incomes have again started growing in real terms in the country as a whole," Putin said.

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