State and Market Regulation of Labour Activity of Old-Age Pensioners

Abstract

Irina M. Kozina – Kandidat nauk (PhD) in Sociology, Professor, Head of Department of Sociological Research Methods, NRU HSE, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: ikozina@hse.ru 

Irina K. Zangieva – Kandidat nauk (PhD) in Sociology, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociological Research Methods, NRU HSE, Moscow, Russian Federation. Email: izangieva@hse.ru

We analyze the existing state and market mechanisms for regulation of labour activity of Russian old-age pensioners and their role in the formation of appropriate age categorization in the labour market, as well as the impact of this on employment of old-age pensioners. The Russian model of labour regulation is found to be neutral with regard to age and pension status. Within this model, the ‘capable’ are expected to compete in the job market, while all those who are ‘incapable’ should receive social protection. The labour market reacts to this with its own interpretation of the bounds of ‘acceptable and unacceptable age’ in hiring effective employees. De facto, this results in widespread age discrimination or ‘ageism’ in practices of recruitment (sometimes in direct, but more often in indirect form), as well as in age segmentation of the labour market followed by qualitative changes to the job character of older people. Those working old-age people looking to change their jobs are, thus, the most vulnerable category. Not only do they lose out to younger workers while competing for jobs, they also suffer from inferior work conditions with respect to their peers, who preserve their existing job positions. The findings of this paper are based on empirical study of age discrimination in the Russian labour market conducted by the authors in 2012–2015. We used a combination of quantitative methods – employment statistics, representative sample data of the 24th wave of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, as well as job advertisements content analysis – and qualitative methods, such as expert interviews with HR managers, as well as an analysis of the legislative framework.