Putin suggests cutting women’s retirement age to 60 from 63

MOSCOW, Aug 29 (PRIME) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested softening the pension reform on Wednesday by cutting the retirement age for women to 60 years from 63 suggested by the government and keeping it at 65 for men.

“This is no good, of course, it’s wrong. We in our country have special, caring attention to women in this country. We understand that they not only have a day job, they are responsible for everything at home, they must care for the family, raise kids and take care of grandkids,” Putin said.

“The retirement age for women must not grow by more than that for men. This is why I see it necessary to cut the retirement age rise envisaged by the bill to 5 years from eight.”

He also offered to reduce the retirement age for women with three and more children by the number of years equaling the number of children or to 50 if a woman has five or more children.

The State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower house, in late July approved in the first out of the three required readings a bill that gradually raises the retirement age to 65 years for men and 63 for women from 60 and 55 years, respectively. The bill, to take force from January 1, 2019, encompasses a transition period from 2019 till 2034 with an annual increase of the retirement age by one year. The measure caused heated public debates.

Putin said his proposals will be sent to the State Duma as amendments to the bill.

He said that Russia will face demographic issues in the 2020s. “This happens because of severe demographic losses during the World War II, and these are not just direct losses but millions of those unborn during the war years.” He added that Russia no longer can postpone pension system changes.

The president addressed a fear of job loss by people whose retirement age is approaching by offering to introduce a five-year transition period before retirement and envisage some labor market guarantees during the period. “It is indeed hard to find a job after 50. In this context we must foresee extra guarantees which will protect senior people’s interests on the labor market.”

One of the proposed measures is to raise unemployment benefit for pre-retirement to 11,280 rubles a month from 4,900 rubles. Putin also said he sees it important to introduce administrative and criminal liability for firing people of pre-retirement age.

(67.3911 rubles – U.S. $1)

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