Not all elderly Russians manage to increase their income after being fired
As you know, for every action there is a reaction. Here are the Russian working pensioners, who stopped indexing pensions back in 2016, found an “antidote”. In order not to lose the increase from the state, they quit their jobs, and when after a couple of months they receive the additional payments due since 2016, they again join the working family. This scheme was especially developed in 2022, when a suspiciously large number of veterans, 600,000 people, quit on their own. Experts suggest that most of them, having received their indexation, will again replenish the labor market. However, the specific stories of older working Russians are full of unexpected twists and turns. What «MK» was convinced of after listening to several instructive monologues.
Let me explain for those who don't know. If a pensioner works and receives a salary, the indexation of the pension — really, in money — is not allowed to him. It occurs only on paper in the annals of the Social (in the past — Pension) Fund of Russia. But as soon as a person officially quits, all “paper” indexations are immediately paid to him (well, that is, after 2–3 months, while all bureaucratic procedures are settled) in cash. And one more preliminary reservation: some of our heroes did not hide their names and surnames, but just in case, we decided to keep their anonymity in the newspaper — so that frankness would not go sideways for them.
Eugene (by his patronymic he asks not to be named), having retired, remained to work at his college, where he taught for more than a dozen years. True, the salary (some part of the rate) was offered to him purely symbolic — 10 thousand rubles. But he agreed, because he was used to the team and, no matter how strange it may seem in our cynical time, he felt responsible to the students who need his experience and knowledge.
But the trouble is, his tiny salary has shrunk over the past few years due to inflation and sanctions, and not a penny has been added to the pension, since it is not indexed for those who work. As he received his 14 thousand, he continued to receive. Total total income — 24 thousand rubles, which was barely enough for all his needs. “And then one of my colleagues thought up — quit your job, index your pension, then you will be restored in college and again you will receive a salary in addition to the already indexed pension. Fortunately, age is not limited for teaching, ”says our hero.
He did just that — he officially resigned, informed the Pension Fund officials and soon began to receive a pension of as much as 21 thousand, which is not much less his previous total income. “On the other hand, so much time was freed up that I managed to renovate the dacha, clean the territory and sow the beds,” says Evgeny.
In general, then he no longer wanted to return to his former place of work, and he got used to a purely retirement life without any special worries and worries. What is the point of working hard to get almost the same money. “It turns out that all these years I spent my strength, not very good health and all my time to increase the monthly family budget by only three thousand rubles,” he shared an unexpected “discovery”.
According to official data, as of January 1, 2023, the total number of pensioners in Russia was 41.8 million, of which almost 8 million were employed. Last year, about 600,000 workers «retired», that is, stopped their labor activity. Experts consider this figure to be a record.
The reasons for the «mass exodus» lie on the surface. The gap in the pensions of working and non-working pensioners by the beginning of this year reached an average of 6,000 rubles a month. And this, whatever you say, is money that is significant in our realities, which working older people “give” to the state on a monthly basis. And in the head of many people of retirement age there is a crazy thought: if I die, I burn out at work — and then no one will see this compensation at all, goodbye, supplements … And such fears are not in vain. Indeed, no one will index anything to the deceased, and no compensation will be given to relatives and friends either.
But the state does not deprive the non-working pensioners of its care. The most fruitful for them was the past year, when from June 1 they indexed the payment by as much as 10%, and from the beginning of this year — by another 4.8%. It turns out a total increase of more than 15% in just one year. But at the end of 2021, indexation (naturally, due to high inflation, we must not forget about this!) Was also rather big — 8.6%. In just six years, the total indexation exceeds 40%, and who doesn’t want to receive such additional money. The monthly payment, relatively speaking, is 20 thousand and 28 thousand — there is a difference!
Even outwardly, such an increase looks quite attractive. You don’t have to go to work, and the pension has increased so much … In addition, a pensioner who is not burdened with work receives freedom that he did not know all the years of his labor activity, because many of them have 40-50 years of experience. Sofa, six acres, TV, grandchildren… Don't they deserve such happiness?
But there are also disadvantages. When retiring and relying only on annual indexation from the state, a person, of course, loses income. According to statistics, an average of 6,000 rubles will be added to his pension. But at the enterprise, he would have received more anyway! The minimum wage in Russia (SMIC) this year is 16,242 rubles, and this is the minimum. And who gets it? Some kind of night watchman or cleaning lady who comes in the morning to clean the floors in the office. All other categories earn more — at least 20 thousand per month. This means that an elderly person immediately loses at least 14 thousand rubles, which he is unlikely to be able to make up for in income.
That is why, according to experts, most of the working pensioners, having quit and “indexed”, plan to return to the work team again. And what? The pension is already 6 thousand rubles (on average) more, plus the salary from the employer is returned — the same 20 thousand, for example … Here you can no longer think that you will “burn out at work” without seeing the desired compensation. But in practice, this is not always the case and not for everyone.
A former employee of one of the district municipalities in the Ryazan region says that she did not leave for a well-deserved rest, but was asked to. Under the pretext that management cares about its own good. “If you write a statement of your own free will, in 2-3 months your pension will be indexed for 6 years worked. And then we’ll take you back,” she recalls, she recalls.
Indeed, the pension was recalculated taking into account indexation for previous years, from 2016 to 2022, she was “thrown” about 6 thousand rubles, in total she began to receive a pension of 20 thousand rubles a month. Salary at the previous position was 27 thousand. That is, 7 thousand rubles “flew away”, fell immediately. But, as she hoped, not forever, but only for two or three months.
However, it so happened that she was not hired back to work. Here, without any resentment towards the leadership, which guaranteed her her previous position and salary. Something just went wrong with the staffing.
In general, our heroine can only count the total loss of real disposable income. By the standards of ordinary life, they are very significant.
First of all, she lost her sanatorium and resort payments, because she did not complete her work before the end of the year when she was dismissed. This sacred tradition has been preserved in our lives since Soviet times, when all officials in power once a year were entitled to sanatorium and resort money. In municipalities, employees have about 80 thousand rubles a year. By today's standards, this is a solid financial support, because the salary of a middle-level municipal official, as we have already said, is quite modest — 27 thousand rubles. At the same time, every day to and from work, a working day from bell to bell, you can’t spoil it in administrations, there is strict discipline there.
She also lost quarterly bonuses — small, but still …
In general, it was: 27,000 rubles salary, 14,000 pensions, plus about 8,000 rubles a month for sanatoriums and resorts. Total — 49 thousand rubles with a penny ran up. It has become 20 thousand — and now it is complete freedom, which, by and large, she is not particularly happy about. After all, she lost almost 30 thousand of her monthly income.
“I couldn't find a job for six months, although I have a desire to work and my health allows it,” she says. — Yes, and I have connections with different companies, I still worked in the administration, I know many people. But they offered a small salary, you can spend more on lunches and on trips to and from work. Now calmed down. Money, of course, is not enough, it's good at least the children help. But you will not sit on their neck! They already have their own children, expenses for various circles and sections. And also a mortgage…”
Raisa Petrovna frankly says that after her retirement she lost a lot of income. She worked at large government construction sites, and the salary reached 120 thousand rubles a month. However, she was given a pension of only 15 thousand rubles.
“Life is not enough,” she admits. — Now new payments for housing and communal services for February have arrived: 8.5 thousand rubles for a 2-room apartment — this is rent, and gas, and electricity, and heating. They say that they will raise them even more in March, then there will be nothing to live on at all.
I learn from her that she went on a well-deserved rest 6 years ago of her own free will. For these six years, the pension was to be indexed. How much does he get today? He answers that he gets the same!
“But that can't be! I say. — Non-working pensioners are constantly being increased, taking into account inflation. In six years, you should get at least a few thousand more raises!
— Are you laughing? she wonders. — Indexed twice in total. Once they raised it by 200 rubles, and the second — by 300, that's all the increase.
It turns out that she is not the only one in her area, which indexation, in her words, bypassed. All her retired girlfriends in recent years (and they were not easy at all, especially for pensioners) received the same ridiculous compensation — for 200-300 rubles.
For some reason, the indexation of pensions did not affect many interlocutors in different parts of Central Russia. People don't even believe it even exists. Of course, you can advise a pensioner to go to your department of the Social Fund or ask a question about indexing on the State Services website, but our heroine eschews bureaucratic institutions, she is afraid of bureaucratic red tape, and she knows the Internet extremely superficially.
Compared to the period of work, Raisa Petrovna lost about 80-100 thousand rubles a month. It is even naive to ask if she can somehow at least partially compensate for these material losses.
Yes, she has a small dacha with a garden, grows herbs and vegetables. But vitamins are enough only for the summer period. In winter, he still goes to the store for the same potatoes or carrots. And in order to make pickles, twists and jam for the winter, you need ingredients, including sugar. If you add up all these expenses, a decent amount also runs up.
— Over the past 5 years, the rise in prices has been especially felt — not only in stores, but for everything, — she believes. — And here the state should provide great support to pensioners. You can buy shoes for 2 thousand rubles — they will last for a week. And you can for 10 thousand, but you carry them for 2-3 years. But where to get them — these ten thousand?
— Indexation of pensions for the unemployed occurs automatically, — explained Associate Professor of the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanova Ludmila Ivanova-Shvets. “You don’t have to go anywhere for this. But if, as the pensioner believes, he is not indexed, then you should contact the Pension Fund, talk with employees — perhaps there was a failure and the data was lost. But there is one point that many do not know about, she continues. — People with small pension payments may simply not notice indexation. In each region, the authorities set their own living wage. If the pension is below this level, it is increased to the PM. The pension consists, as it were, of two parts: from the insurance and additional payments from the region. In this case, the pension is increased by the subsistence level indexation for the given region.
In general, many old people would not cling to work if the pension was decent. Officially, the average insurance pension in Russia since January 1 this year is 20.6 thousand rubles, it is growing from year to year.
But already 100-150 kilometers from Moscow, 15 thousand rubles is considered a high pension. Many in the outback receive 7-8 thousand, having worked for 40 years. I paid 5 thousand rubles for an apartment, and how much is left? “It remains only for Corvalol,” one of our interlocutors sighs bitterly. “If it weren’t for the children who pay for my apartment, there would be nothing to live on.”
“I found a part-time job, got a job at the post office delivering correspondence,” says the former process engineer. — They promised a decent salary — 16 thousand rubles. I worked only one day and realized that they would not pay such money in vain. I was thrown into the countryside — and without transport. There are no mailboxes on the fences, no one opens the doors, and walking through the villages and hitching a ride is not the same health. She worked only one day, she didn’t even go for a salary.
The stories of the pensioners who agreed to talk with us are different, they have in common only a rather sad morality: older people are sorely lacking money to live on, therefore, if they have the opportunity , — they continue to work, spitting on their «deserved rest». And the state punishes them for such zeal, depriving them of the legal indexation that they earned with their entire previous career history…