There are fewer and fewer Russians wishing to work after reaching retirement age

Time goes by, and the labor fuse among the Russians, so that “hot work, good deeds,” is declining. This is evidenced by the survey data of the research center portal SuperJob. Fewer and fewer of our middle-aged and slightly older fellow citizens are eager to continue working when they reach their retirement age. Retirement – period!

According to the survey, only 13% of Russians over 45 plan to continue their labor activity after reaching retirement age. True, before retirement, as they say, they still cut and cut and make forecasts for such a long period of time is very frivolous. As Khoja Nasreddin said, during this time either the vizier will die, or the donkey, or I.

Nevertheless, the situation is alarming for domestic experts. Indeed, if the incomes of Russians have grown by leaps and bounds lately, it would be logical to assume that veterans rely entirely on the state and they do not have to live by the factory horn.

In principle, we went through something similar in the USSR, when the average pension in the country was about 110 rubles a month (not much less than the average salary). This money was enough for food and rent, grandmothers even managed to save something for their grandchildren.

But now the situation has changed exactly the opposite. The state basically does not index pensions for workers. Like, you also get a salary, which means you are not in poverty. On the other hand, the indexation of the unemployed only in the last year exceeded 15%. With such dynamics, older people involuntarily have to think about the choice. After all, if you work, you not only earn, but also spend much more – for travel, for example, or for lunch.

So why, long before retirement, did our fellow citizens decide to “lie on the stove” or dig on six acres? We conducted our own survey on this matter.

“If the pensions of those working were indexed, I would continue to work,” 47-year-old Sergey Dobrikov, a car mechanic at a large car company, told us. – But they already consider me an old man, they pay 18 thousand rubles a month. Travel on the road, dinners in the factory canteen – and I get 10 thousand in my hands. Even though I work a shift every day. When I turn 65, I will immediately quit, I will wait for indexation, in terms of income it turns out about the same …

But back to the results of a professional opinion poll. Over the past two years, about a third of Russians have lost interest in working after retirement. In 2021, 19% intended to continue working, and today it is 6% less. Of those of our fellow citizens who intend to work after retirement, there are twice as many men as women. Accordingly, 16% and 8%. Both those and others show enviable firmness in this matter: they will not leave their job even if they do not feel the need for income.

However, as you can see, they are in the vast minority.

The trend is all the more offensive because right now and, most likely, in the foreseeable future, workers are in high demand on the labor market. Employers invite people over 50 years old for various vacancies – “having the necessary life experience and not having illusions about a high salary.”

“I would not particularly trust the data of such a survey,” Pavel Kudyukin, a trade union leader and former Deputy Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation, told us. – To understand why the Russians make such a conclusion, it is necessary to conduct additional qualitative, rather than quantitative research. After all, no one can imagine what will happen in 15-20 years. A serious prediction is not possible. We do not know how technology will develop over this period, we do not even know in what configuration our world will exist.

– And yet it is strange: the real disposable incomes of the population are falling, and in the long run people are ready to rely only on the indexation of pensions. Where is the initiative of a person, his desire to be the blacksmith of his own happiness?

– One can only guess here. Now both workers and engineering specialties are in demand, and vacancies are filled with difficulty. The question is how to find a decent paying job. I suppose that in the future, many pensioners hope to work according to gray schemes, without paying taxes.