Successful and Unsuccessful Strategies of Russian Pre-Retirement and Retirement-Aged Workers in the Labour Market

Elizaveta Gorvat , Higher School of Economics
Oxana Sinyavskaya, National Research University Higher School of Economics and Universiteit Maastricht
Anna Cherviakova, Higher School of Economics

The public discussion of the Concept of Active Ageing Policy project in Russia, as well as recent increase of the retirement age since 2019, have attracted heightened interest to the promotion of employment in the pre-retirement and retirement ages. Previous studies raised concerns about obstacles with employment which appear long before the statutory retirement age (Validata, 2018), and a segment of older low-qualified workers with low salaries and inappropriate social guaranties (Maltseva, Lyashok, 2012; Sonina, Kolosnitsyna, 2015). In this research, we address the following research questions: (1) what factors do contribute to maintaining employment in the pre-retirement and retirement ages, and (2) does this employment successful in terms of job positions and/or earnings. The research is based on 8 annual waves of the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) (2010-2017). The sample consists of 47 946 observations (37.2% men and 62.8% women) at the age of 40 years and older that covers the workers of the pre-retirement, early and statutory retirement ages. The Cox model with time-dependent covariates is constructed. The preliminary results show that maintaining employment after the retirement age at the same job place, as before the retirement, is likely to be a successful strategy for Russian workers. Official employment and full-time job are also features of successful strategies in Russian labour market. In contrast, unsuccessful strategies often include various types of labour mobility in the pre-retirement and retirement ages. This vulnerable group of the workers need more attention in social policy promoting longer employment.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy