What are consequences of raising retirement age in Russia?

Raising retirement age in Russia is inevitable, the question is only in the timing and methods of implementation of this decision, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev stated to 'Rossiyskaya Gazeta'.

Thus, he commented on the statement of the former Finance Minister, Alexei Kudrin, in an interview with 'Izvestiya' about the need to discuss this topic after September's elections to State Duma.

"It is clear that raising retirement age is a bad decision, but inevitable, and it will be made for sure. The only question is when and how to do it, since such a decision will affect all people, social and political situation," RIA Novosti quotes the head of the Ministry of Economic Development as saying.

At the same time, Ulyukayev noted that it is reasonable to announce such decision during electorally quiet period, for example at the end of 2016, while necessary calculations should be finalized now.

In an interview with the correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza Vice Rector of RANHiGS, Alexander Safonov, emphasized that in order to raise retirement age in Russia, it is necessary to comply with several conditions. "The first and most important condition is to provide jobs for those who will be on the labor market under new pension system. Unemployment rate is constantly growing. Today, it is 6%, which is quite high figure. But this so-called net unemployment, it does not take into account the number of jobs that shadow labor market lost. In addition, a significant number of workers are in part-time employment. That is, they do not work 8-hour working day. And this is a reaction of enterprises to the economic crisis. Accordingly, those who work part time, receive lower wages. Therefore, if the Minister of Economic Development will explain how we will create new jobs for those individuals who are going to stay at the labor market, then perhaps it possible to take his proposal into consideration," Vice Rector said.

According to him, an imbalance that occurs in the pension fund, that is, excess of expenditures over incomes, is associated with low wages to a certain extent. "If we build an economic model, then the average wage of more than 50% of workers in the economy should exceed 50 thousand rubles in order to balance incomes and expenditures. Therefore, even if we raise retirement age, but won't fulfill necessary conditions, in other words, won't increase the efficiency of work places themselves, them problems will remain the same," Alexander Safonov explained.

In turn, deputy director of the Social Analysis and Forecasting Institute of RANHiGS, Yuri Gorlin, stated that raising retirement age in 2016 is absolutely unrealistic. "Apparently, there is no doubt that sooner or later it must done, but not today. But before doing it, it is necessary to carefully prepare. We can't do it, because risks and consequences of such decision were not determined and evaluated. The whole set of measures, which must be implemented before raising retirement age, is also not developed," the expert pointed out.