Professor Zubets assessed the chances of indexing payments to working pensioners: “There are none”

From January 1 next year, the average old-age pension will be indexed by 7.5% and will amount to “real money” 23,449 rubles. However, working pensioners will not see this amount. They, as in previous years, were denied indexation. But battles on this topic continue both in the government and in parliament.

According to deputy Svetlana Bessarab, a member of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs, all is not lost for older workers; consultations with the government on indexation are still ongoing. This deputy insistence does not allow society to forget that once (before 2016) pensions were increased for everyone – both those working and those not working.

The head of the same committee, Yaroslav Nilov, assures that parliamentarians will not calm down and will continue to fight to ensure that the state fully fulfills its obligations to retired workers. If not in front of everyone at once, then at least in parts, that is, in separate categories. And you can start, for example, with state employees or specialists in the military-industrial complex.

“Mailboxes,” as enterprises in this industry used to be called, are now experiencing big problems with personnel, especially experienced and professional ones. But they are the ones who quit. To stop this process, as an exception to the rules, a group of deputies petitions the government to restore indexation to such specialists.

But so far, alas, the negative position of the Cabinet of Ministers on this issue has not changed. The head of the Ministry of Finance, Anton Siluanov, is categorically against even selective indexation for certain categories of working pensioners. As for the pension provision itself, in his opinion, it is quite decent. The minister believes that Russians have three reasons not to work during their well-deserved retirement: regular indexation of pensions, the desire to care for their grandchildren, and, well, their state of health.

Not long ago, the government completed “serious revision” of the bill on indexing pensions for working disabled people. There are not so many of them in our country, but there was no money in the treasury for them either. What can we say about the recalculation of workers, of whom there are about 8 million in Russia!

It turns out that the loud statements of officials that working pensioners are our golden fund, that it is they who, with their experience and knowledge, help out the economy in today’s conditions, are simply shaking the air. After all, it is clear that if the indexation of this category had not been canceled in 2016, then there would have been no shortage in the labor market, and, perhaps, there would have also been competition among applicants.

According to statistics, in 2016 alone, 5.3 million pensioners left their work shift and decided to wait for indexation from the state. And every year the ranks of workers are thinning – from 200 to 400 thousand people. What is better: a salary for retirement or a quiet life in retirement awaiting annual indexation? An increasing number of older people prefer the second option…

“There is no chance of indexing payments to working pensioners,” says Alexei Zubets, Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. – This task is not a priority for the government. If a pensioner continues to work, then by definition he cannot receive a salary less than the minimum wage. And this figure from next year will be 19 thousand rubles. That is, according to the government’s logic, he already has a significant increase in his pension. And the saved resources are better spent on needy old people who have no other sources of income other than pensions and who have nowhere else to wait for support.

– There are four times fewer working pensioners than non-working ones. If they found billions of rubles for indexation for non-working people, perhaps it is possible to find funds for those working?

– According to official statistics, we have about 8 million such people, but in reality there are more. According to our calculations, another couple of million are working under the “gray scheme”, without registration – so as not to lose indexation. The budget, which we currently have a deficit of, of course, will not be able to increase payments to this amount. The periodic initiatives of deputies introducing relevant bills, in my opinion, are pure PR. The desire to remind, to declare oneself.

– What needs to happen in our economy so that there is enough money for everyone?

– Labor productivity in Russia should double. Or at least 1.5. But in our country it is increasing very slowly, at the current level of development by about 2% per year. Now, consider that for labor productivity to increase even 1.5 times, it will take us 25-30 years.