Professional pensions in Russia: problems and prospects

Abstract

The article substantiates the need to reform the pension system of the Russian Federation. According to the author, the most effective way to reduce the financial burden on the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation is to reform the institution of early (preferential) pensions, because the scale of providing preferential pensions in Russia is unparalleled in world practice. The article examines the history of concessional pension provision in Russia and the stages of reforming the pension system in sufficient detail. The author examines the measures that were planned in the 1995 Concept of Reform for the introduction of a three-tiered pension system, which would have included as one of its components a non-state (supplementary) pension in the form of professional pension systems of individual organizations, industries, territories, as well as personal pension savings in non-state pension funds or insurance companies. Then the article examines the Programme of pension reform of 1998, draft federal laws "On the Fundamentals of Pension Reform in the Russian Federation", "On compulsory professional pension systems in the Russian Federation", in which quite reasonable measures to change the institution of early pensions were proposed. The author notes with regret that the above draft laws did not receive further consideration and were withdrawn from consideration because the main issue concerning the financing of occupational pensions remained unresolved. The article discusses the main directions of the Strategy for Long-Term Development of the Pension System (until 2030), one of which is also reforming the institute of early pensions. Summarizing the results of the study, the author draws a disappointing conclusion that over the past 30 years the idea of introducing occupational pensions has not yet found real implementation, and the existing institution of concessional pensions now covers an even wider range of persons than it did in the Soviet period. The author fears that the introduction of an occupational pension system may not materialise in the next few years, given the current economic crisis, labour market problems and a difficult demographic situation. Nevertheless, the author hopes that the next phase of pension reform announced by the Russian Government will lead to real progress in introducing the occupational pension system in Russia as well. There is no doubt that the need to resolve this problem is long overdue, and effective measures should be taken as soon as possible. All the more so because the regulations already adopted over the years, which were discussed in this study, provide quite adequate and feasible measures for reforming the Russian pension system. The author declares no conflicts of interests.