The Russian government urges not to delay pension reform
The optimal time period for increasing the retirement age in Russia is the next 5-10 years.
The Minister of Labor and Social Policy of the Russian Federation, Maxim Topilin, stated this today at a hearing in the State Duma, a Politnavigator correspondent reports.
“Now we have a decreasing number of people of working age due to the demographic processes that took place in the 90s. It will decrease for several more years. In the next 5-10 years, we will never have such a fortunate combination of circumstances when fewer people born in the early 90s enter the labor market, and a large number of people apply for retirement. In subsequent periods we will not have such a ratio. From the point of view of the labor market, these decisions need to be made now,” Topilin said.
According to him, in the 50s of the last century there was one pensioner for every five workers, in 1979 – for 3,7 workers per pensioner. Today the ratio is approximately two to one.
“I would like to especially emphasize that the proposed changes are related to serious changes in the labor market that have occurred in recent years. The key ratio for joint pension systems is the number of people of working age and people who are retired. When the decision was made on the current retirement age, this ratio was much more comfortable than it is now,” Topilin said.
Let us recall that in July the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted the draft pension reform in the first reading. Three opposition factions opposed it.
Today the Communist Party of the Russian Federation organized a rally outside parliament. Consideration of the reform in the second reading is expected in September.
The Russian government urges immediate action on pension reform.