Obligations and expectations: Renegotiating pensions in the Russian Federation

Continuity and Change

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 1998, Pages 317-338

  Buckley, Cynthia ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AGING POPULATION; PENSION SYSTEM; SOCIAL POLICY; SOCIAL SECURITY;

RUSSIAN FEDERATION;

EID: 0032321424     PISSN: 02684160     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0268416097003032     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. Expenses related to the state insurance fund included wage subsidies for women on child leave, child supplemental payments, assistance to poor families, pensions for loss of household head, pensions for the physically infirm and old age pensions. Budget data can be found in Gosudarstvennyi Komitet SSSR po Statistike (State Committee on Statistics, hereafter GosKomStat), Narodnoe Koziaistvo SSSR za 70 let (The People's economy of the USSR over 70 years; Moscow, 1987).
2. In 1992, the then Minister for Social Provision Ella Pamfilova argued that the pensions system was near collapse due to demographic pressures, administrative difficulties, poor coordination and a severe lack of resources. The introduction of the market economic mechanism was predicted to accentuate existing difficulties. Her remarks are summarized in Izvestia, 23 September 1992, 1.
3. The first organization for pension provision created by the new Soviet government was the Narodnoe Komissara Sotsialnogo Obespecheniia (The People's Commission on Social Provision). See A. Vinokurov, Sotsialnoe Obespechenie v Sovetskoi Rossii (Social provision in Soviet Russia; Moscow, 1919).
4. Descriptions of early social-provision goals concerning pensions can be found in Narodnoe Komissara Sotsialnogo Obespecheniia, Sotsialnoe Obespechenie za 5 let (Social provision over 5 years; Moscow, 1923). The Commission on Social Provision established cooperatives for the elderly and invalids during the early 1920s, stressing self-support in a controlled environment rather than resource transfers to the old and physically infirm. Resource transfers were concentrated on soldiers, pregnant women and young mothers, a pattern similar to the initial establishment of social-provision programmes in the United States; see T. Skocpol, Protecting solders and mothers: the political origins of social policy in the United States (Boston, 1992).
5. Descriptions of early social-provision goals concerning pensions can be found in Narodnoe Komissara Sotsialnogo Obespecheniia, Sotsialnoe Obespechenie za 5 let (Social provision over 5 years; Moscow, 1923). The Commission on Social Provision established cooperatives for the elderly and invalids during the early 1920s, stressing self-support in a controlled environment rather than resource transfers to the old and physically infirm. Resource transfers were concentrated on soldiers, pregnant women and young mothers, a pattern similar to the initial establishment of social-provision programmes in the United States; see T. Skocpol, Protecting solders and mothers: the political origins of social policy in the United States (Boston, 1992).
6. See 'Ob ulychshenii pensionnogo obespecheniia invalidnnosti po sluchaiu poterikormil'tsa i po starosti' (On improving pension service for invalids, lost head of household, and old age), Narodnoe Kommisariat Truda (People's Commission on Labour; hereafter NKT); 179 Statute 76, 23 May 1929 (Commission on Labour ) and 47, 19 February 1932. People in specific occupations received pensions with lower requirements for years of work and lower pension age. See 'Vremennii spisok vrednikh professii daiushchikh pravo ha ponizhenie stazha i povishenie pensii' (Current list of occupations qualifying for legal reductions in seniority and higher pensions), NKT SSSR 1932 g 11, in Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy sotsialnomy strakhovaniiu (State pensions and social insurance; Moscow, 1948); 28-30.
7. See 'Ob ulychshenii pensionnogo obespecheniia invalidnnosti po sluchaiu poterikormil'tsa i po starosti' (On improving pension service for invalids, lost head of household, and old age), Narodnoe Kommisariat Truda (People's Commission on Labour; hereafter NKT); 179 Statute 76, 23 May 1929 (Commission on Labour ) and 47, 19 February 1932. People in specific occupations received pensions with lower requirements for years of work and lower pension age. See 'Vremennii spisok vrednikh professii daiushchikh pravo ha ponizhenie stazha i povishenie pensii' (Current list of occupations qualifying for legal reductions in seniority and higher pensions), NKT SSSR 1932 g 11, in Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy sotsialnomy strakhovaniiu (State pensions and social insurance; Moscow, 1948); 28-30.
8. See 'Ob ulychshenii pensionnogo obespecheniia invalidnnosti po sluchaiu poterikormil'tsa i po starosti' (On improving pension service for invalids, lost head of household, and old age), Narodnoe Kommisariat Truda (People's Commission on Labour; hereafter NKT); 179 Statute 76, 23 May 1929 (Commission on Labour ) and 47, 19 February 1932. People in specific occupations received pensions with lower requirements for years of work and lower pension age. See 'Vremennii spisok vrednikh professii daiushchikh pravo ha ponizhenie stazha i povishenie pensii' (Current list of occupations qualifying for legal reductions in seniority and higher pensions), NKT SSSR 1932 g 11, in Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy sotsialnomy strakhovaniiu (State pensions and social insurance; Moscow, 1948); 28-30.
9. These figures are taken from GosKomStat, Tablitsi smertnost'i i ozhidaemoi porodolzhitel'nosti zhizni naseleni (Life tables and life expectancy at birth for the population; Moscow, 1989). These life-table figures refer to the hypothetical mortality experience of a cohort subjected to the age-specific death rates of 1926/27.
10. See Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy.
11. See Bolshaia Sovetskaia Encyklopediia (Big Soviet Encyclopaedia), Vol. 19 (Moscow, 1975); 988.
12. See Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 79-80. Pensions for physical infirmity were reduced if a wage income was earned (ibid., 24).
13. See Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 79-80. Pensions for physical infirmity were reduced if a wage income was earned (ibid., 24).
14. See Sotsialnoe Obespechenie za 5 let. See also Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 39. Pensions were paid through trade unions until 1937 when regional social provision commissions were established (ibid., 35-6).
15. See Sotsialnoe Obespechenie za 5 let. See also Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 39. Pensions were paid through trade unions until 1937 when regional social provision commissions were established (ibid., 35-6).
16. See Sotsialnoe Obespechenie za 5 let. See also Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 39. Pensions were paid through trade unions until 1937 when regional social provision commissions were established (ibid., 35-6).
17. Rural school teachers were provided with incentives including pension coverage and early retirement if they served ten years as an instructor in a rural area under the Soviet regime (Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy, 78-85).
18. The 1956 pension law, signed on 14 July by the Supreme Soviet, placed pension payments under the administrative authority of the Department of Social Insurance. See 'Zakon o Gosudarstennikh Pensiiakh' (Law on state pensions) in Sotsialnoe Obespechenie v Sovetskoi Rossii: sbornik ofitsial'nikh materialov (Social provision in the USSR: a collection of official materials; Moscow, 1962), 7-12.
19. GosKomStat, Narodnoe Khoziaistvo (Moscow, 1957 and 1960).
20. Ibid., Tablitsi smertnost'i i ozhidaemoi.
21. Tractor drivers and farm professionals (such as farm presidents, chief economists and agronomists) were covered by previous additions to the state pensions system, providing an incentive for educated professionals to remain in farm employment. See O Pensionnom obespechenii za vislugu let agronomov, rabotaiushchikh v sel'skikh mestnostiakh, Postanovlenie Narkomtruda SSSR om 22 sentiabria 1930 g' (On pension provision for years worked by agronomists in rural areas, recordings of the People's Commission on Labour of the USSR, 22 September 1930), SSSR 1930 g. Number 37 Statute 401 ) and 'O poriadke naznacheniia i vyplati pensii za vislugi let rykovodiashchim i otvetstvennim rabotnikam i spetsialistam mashino-traktornikh, lesozashchitnikh, mashinno-zhivotnovodcheskikh lugomeliorativnikh stantsii i shok mekhanizatsii Sel'skogo Khoziaistva SSSR i Ministertva Khlopovodstva SSSR (On the proper initiation and payment of pensions for managers, responsible workers and machine-tractor specialists, foresters, mechanized animal husbandry station workers and mining mechanics of the Agricultural Economy of the USSR and the Ministry of Cotton USSR), Prikazi Ministra Sotsialnogo Obespecheniia RSFSR om 7 marta 1952 g. (Order of the Minister of Social Provision, Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic), 7 March 1952, number 130.
22. Tractor drivers and farm professionals (such as farm presidents, chief economists and agronomists) were covered by previous additions to the state pensions system, providing an incentive for educated professionals to remain in farm employment. See O Pensionnom obespechenii za vislugu let agronomov, rabotaiushchikh v sel'skikh mestnostiakh, Postanovlenie Narkomtruda SSSR om 22 sentiabria 1930 g' (On pension provision for years worked by agronomists in rural areas, recordings of the People's Commission on Labour of the USSR, 22 September 1930), SSSR 1930 g. Number 37 Statute 401 ) and 'O poriadke naznacheniia i vyplati pensii za vislugi let rykovodiashchim i otvetstvennim rabotnikam i spetsialistam mashino-traktornikh, lesozashchitnikh, mashinno-zhivotnovodcheskikh lugomeliorativnikh stantsii i shok mekhanizatsii Sel'skogo Khoziaistva SSSR i Ministertva Khlopovodstva SSSR (On the proper initiation and payment of pensions for managers, responsible workers and machine-tractor specialists, foresters, mechanized animal husbandry station workers and mining mechanics of the Agricultural Economy of the USSR and the Ministry of Cotton USSR), Prikazi Ministra Sotsialnogo Obespecheniia RSFSR om 7 marta 1952 g. (Order of the Minister of Social Provision, Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic), 7 March 1952, number 130.
23. H. Kent Geiger, The family in Soviet Russia (Boston, 1968), 204.
24. Participants in the Harvard Interview Project, a study of emigrants to the United States from the Soviet Union conducted in the late 1950s and 1960s, often spoke of their responsibility towards care for their elderly parents; see Geiger, The Family in Soviet Russia, and also R. Osborn, Soviet social policy: welfare, equity and community (Homewood, Ill., 1970).
25. Participants in the Harvard Interview Project, a study of emigrants to the United States from the Soviet Union conducted in the late 1950s and 1960s, often spoke of their responsibility towards care for their elderly parents; see Geiger, The Family in Soviet Russia, and also R. Osborn, Soviet social policy: welfare, equity and community (Homewood, Ill., 1970).
26. In the monthly journal Sotsialnoe Obespechenie (Social Provision), specific collective farms were highlighted for their internal pension systems. Often written by the president of a kolkhoz, the articles typically described the ways in which collective farms could use profits to pay pensions on their own; see L. Dolzhanskii, 'Pensionirovanie v kolkhoze' (Providing pensions on a kolkhoz), Sotsialnoe Obespechenie 3 (1956), 19-21.
27. Pensii po Gosurdarstvennomy.
28. For a complete description of the law and an explanation of pension acquisition procedures for kolkhozniki, see V. D. Arkhipov, Pensii Kolkhoznikam (Pensions of collective farm workers) (Moscow, 1966), specifically pages 3-16.
29. The calculation of previous earnings was extremely difficult as payment in kind for collective farm labour was common well into the 1960s. Often pensioners were simply placed at a minimum pension when their earning history was problematic to categorize. Payment was limited to 50 per cent of salary up to 50 roubles and 25 per cent of any wages over that amount. Both men and women were required to have put in at least 25 years of service. See Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta (Proceedings of the Supreme Soviet) 27 (1964), especially Statutes 6 and 8.
30. GosKomStat, Narodnoe Khoziaistvo (Moscow, 1966 and 1970).
31. For an excellent overview of the aging of the Soviet population, see V. Velkoff and K. Kinsella, Aging in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (Washington, DC, 1993).
32. The total number of recipients of old age pensions were compared with the total number of people of pension age in order to estimate pension coverage. While this generates an overestimation of the coverage level, the general trend in coverage should be unaffected.
33. See B. Anderson and B. Silver, 'The changing shape of Soviet mortality, 1958-1985: an evaluation of old and new evidence', University of Michigan Population Studies Center Research Report 87/111 (1987).
34. See B. Anderson and B. Silver, 'Assessing trends and levels in mortality in the newly independent states: cautionary notes', paper presented at the Population of America Annual Meetings, 6 April 1995 (available in the University of Michigan Population Studies Center Library).
35. GosKomStat, Rossiiskii Statischeskii Ezhegodnik (Russian Statistical Yearbook) (Moscow, 1995), 31.
36. See M. Sonin and A. Dyskin, Pozhuliiu chelovek v semi i obshchestve (The elderly person in family and society; Moscow, 1987).
37. See E. I. Kalugina, Lichnie Posobnoe Khoziaistsvo v SSSR (Private-plot agriculture in the USSR) (Novosibirsk, 1991).
38. M. A. Mozhina and V. A. Pavlova, 'Milostynia ili vozrashchennyi dolg?' (Alms or a debt repaid?), EKO 7 (1989), 76-9.
39. 'Vse o pensiiakh v Rossii: Komy, skol'ko, za sto?' (Everything on pensions in Russia: To whom, how much and why?), Profsouzi i Ekonomika (Labour Unions and the Economy) 2 (1993), 93-126, particularly pages 106-10.
40. See V. Shapiro, Chelovek na Pensii (The person on a pension; Moscow, 1980), and also V. Shapiro, Sotsialnaia aktivnost; pozhelikh liudei v SSSR (Social activity of elderly people in the USSR; Moscow, 1983).
41. See V. Shapiro, Chelovek na Pensii (The person on a pension; Moscow, 1980), and also V. Shapiro, Sotsialnaia aktivnost; pozhelikh liudei v SSSR (Social activity of elderly people in the USSR; Moscow, 1983).
42. See G. Volkova and G. Mil', 'Robataiushchenie pensioneri po vozrast': neispol'zovannie vozmozhnosti' (Employment of old age pensioners: unexploited possibilities), in D. I. Valentie ed., Naelenie tret'ego vozrast (People of the third age; Moscow, 1986), and GosKomStat, Narodonaselenie and Rossiia 1994: sotsial'no-demograficheskiaia situatsiia (Population and Russia 1994: the social-demographic situation; Moscow, 1995), 116. In the late 1970s A. Novitskii and G. Mil' surveyed working pensioners and reported that 25 per cent were motivated to work for financial reasons while 17 per cent cited the psychological benefits of working; see Novitskii and Mil', Zaniatosi' Pensionerov: sotsial'no demograficheskii aspekt (Employment of pensioners: sociodemographic aspects; Moscow, 1981).
43. See G. Volkova and G. Mil', 'Robataiushchenie pensioneri po vozrast': neispol'zovannie vozmozhnosti' (Employment of old age pensioners: unexploited possibilities), in D. I. Valentie ed., Naelenie tret'ego vozrast (People of the third age; Moscow, 1986), and GosKomStat, Narodonaselenie and Rossiia 1994: sotsial'no-demograficheskiaia situatsiia (Population and Russia 1994: the social-demographic situation; Moscow, 1995), 116. In the late 1970s A. Novitskii and G. Mil' surveyed working pensioners and reported that 25 per cent were motivated to work for financial reasons while 17 per cent cited the psychological benefits of working; see Novitskii and Mil', Zaniatosi' Pensionerov: sotsial'no demograficheskii aspekt (Employment of pensioners: sociodemographic aspects; Moscow, 1981).
44. See G. Volkova and G. Mil', 'Robataiushchenie pensioneri po vozrast': neispol'zovannie vozmozhnosti' (Employment of old age pensioners: unexploited possibilities), in D. I. Valentie ed., Naelenie tret'ego vozrast (People of the third age; Moscow, 1986), and GosKomStat, Narodonaselenie and Rossiia 1994: sotsial'no-demograficheskiaia situatsiia (Population and Russia 1994: the social-demographic situation; Moscow, 1995), 116. In the late 1970s A. Novitskii and G. Mil' surveyed working pensioners and reported that 25 per cent were motivated to work for financial reasons while 17 per cent cited the psychological benefits of working; see Novitskii and Mil', Zaniatosi' Pensionerov: sotsial'no demograficheskii aspekt (Employment of pensioners: sociodemographic aspects; Moscow, 1981).
45. See Velkoff and Kinsella, Aging in Eastern Europe.
46. Numerous accounts of black-market mechanisms for the acquisition of 'deficit goods' (goods in short supply), such as housing, health care and education, can be found in K. Simis, The corrupt society: the secret world of Soviet capitalism (New York, 1980). With the exception of reliance on the support of family networks or the proverbial money stuffed in a mattress, there were no alternative networks for old age pensioners.
47. According to a 1990 survey of 50,000 residents of the USSR over the age of 45, over 75 per cent felt that collective-farm pensioners should be covered by the same pension system as workers. Of those surveyed in Russia, 74.9 per cent supported unification. See GosKomStat, Sotsialnoe Razvitie (Social development; Moscow, 1989), 111-14.
48. Sergei Klepcha, Pension Director for the Social Provision Administration in Kurgan oblast, estimated that 70 per cent of the collective-farm old age pensioners in Kurgan oblast received minimum pensions (personal interview, 12 October 1995).
49. These data are from the micro-census of 1994. They summarize the responses concerning primary place of residence. As they rely on individual responses rather than official registration, they should be more accurate than estimates derived from household registries.
50. See GosKomStat. Rossii 1994: Sotsial'no-demograficheskaia situatsiia (Russia in 1994: the socio-demographic situation; Moscow, 1995), 195. While the number of homes has increased, the number of beds has declined from 87,000 in 1992 to 85,100 in 1995; 2,500 elderly people were on waiting lists for beds in residential care facilities (ibid., 195).
51. See GosKomStat. Rossii 1994: Sotsial'no-demograficheskaia situatsiia (Russia in 1994: the socio-demographic situation; Moscow, 1995), 195. While the number of homes has increased, the number of beds has declined from 87,000 in 1992 to 85,100 in 1995; 2,500 elderly people were on waiting lists for beds in residential care facilities (ibid., 195).
52. The members of the CIS agreed to honour work experience obtained in other member countries in 1992.
53. Many of those aged 60 and over leaving the Soviet Union had destinations in the 'far abroad' (outside the former Soviet Union) while those in-migrating were exclusively from the former Soviet Union.
54. The Russian Federation, by presidential decree, substantially decreased the amount of wage earnings allowable without a reduction in pension provision in 1993. Pensioners are no longer able to work full-time and receive pensions. See 'Vse o pensiiakh v Rossii', 93-126.
55. See Sevodnya 6 November 1993, 3. For a brief summary in English see Current Digest of the Soviet Press XLV, 46 (1993), 19.
56. See Sevodnya 6 November 1993, 3. For a brief summary in English see Current Digest of the Soviet Press XLV, 46 (1993), 19.
57. See the weekly newspaper, Argumenti i Fakti (1995), 36, 8. See also E. Tuchkova, 'Trefii etap pensionnoi reformi v Rossii' (The third stage of pension reform in Russia), Chelovek i Trud (The Individual and Labour) 6-7 (1992), 36-7.
58. See the weekly newspaper, Argumenti i Fakti (1995), 36, 8. See also E. Tuchkova, 'Trefii etap pensionnoi reformi v Rossii' (The third stage of pension reform in Russia), Chelovek i Trud (The Individual and Labour) 6-7 (1992), 36-7.
59. B. Dolomin, 'Konturi pensionnoi reformi' (The contours of pension reform), Sotsialnoe Obespechenie 1 (1995), 32-4.
60. According to V. N. Babaev, the Manager of the pension fund in Nizhni Novgorod oblast, the collapse of the regional banks has resulted in the loss of pension funds (with banks closing after receiving funds, but before disbursing them) (personal interview, 15 January 1996).
61. Vse nalogi Rossii 1995*1996: vse novie instruktsii kommentarii, raz'iasneniia (All taxes in Russia, 1995-1996: all new instructions, commentary and interpretation; Moscow, 1995), particularly pages 301-15.
62. These observations were shared by L. H. Zhukova, Manager of the Vladimir oblast pension fund (personal interview, 24 November 1995) and V. N. Babaev (personal interview, January 1996), Manager of the Nizhni Novgorod pension fund.
63. See Utverzhdena postanovleniem Soveta Ministrov TSSR ot 29.03.1991 g., number 137 for the initial establishment of pension subsidies in Tatarstan.
64. In Kurgan oblast the cities of Kurgan and Shandrinsk receive pensions first. This is due partly to better financial infrastructures in the cities but is also used as a tactic to avoid demonstrations (personal interview with Sergei Klepcha, 12 October 1995).
65. Based on interviews in the villages of Kovrigino, Nizhni Novgorod oblast, Gavrilovsk, Vladimir oblast, both in January 1996. In the village of Sychova in Kurgan oblast pensioners reported payment lags of at least two months. Delays in payment significantly affect the real value of the pension received due to the effects of inflation.
66. Sotsialnoe Razvitie SSSR (Moscow, 1989), 124. For further discussion of the relative importance of income sources in the total income of rural and urban pensioners, see C. Buckley and W. Hickenbottom, 'Taxation possibilities for elderly support in rural Russia', Comparative Economic Studies 37, 1, 19-37.
67. The low reporting rates for men may be influenced slightly be reporting patterns. In Russia, women often take responsibility for the household budget and are more knowledgeable and open about their sources of income than men.
68. See the newspaper Ekonomicheskaia Gazeta 23 (June 1994), 11.
69. Izvestiya, 16 November 1996, 1-2; this is reprinted in English translation in The Current Digest of the Soviet Press XLVII, 46, 8.
70. Izvestiya, 16 November 1996, 1-2; this is reprinted in English translation in The Current Digest of the Soviet Press XLVII, 46, 8.
71. Argumenti i Fakti (1994), 5, 2.
72. C. Buckley, 'Giving until it hurts: intergenerational wealth transfers in rural Russia', paper presented at the 16th Congress of the International Association of Gerontoloty, 20 August 1997 (available in the University of Texas Population Research Center Library).