Free Choice or Necessity? Why Russian Seniors Prefer to Work After Retirement

Most Russians believe that retirement is not a reason to stop working and stay at home. However, many of them think that retirees prefer to stay at work due to financial difficulties, rather than out of personal interest or habits.

A survey conducted in November 2015 showed that Russians in general support the idea of working after retirement.

Thus, more than one third of respondents, 37%, said they are not going to leave their work when they reach a retirement age, another 37% theoretically accepted a possibility of working in retirement, saying that it would depend on particular circumstances, while only 11% firmly rejected the prospects of working beyond retirement age.

Almost the half of respondents, 47%, believes that pensioners should not be sent to a “deserved rest” when they are willing to continue working. 17% of respondents sympathized with those who continue working after retirement, while 11% believe that retirees have to work out of necessity. Only 8% of those questioned expressed negative attitudes towards seniors saying that they occupy jobs and hinder the promotion of younger specialists.

The vast majority of Russians, 73%, believe that people have to work in retirement due to the lack of pension. Quite often this phenomenon is caused by the desire of older people to provide financial assistance to their children and grandchildren, according to 46% of respondents. However, financial difficulties are not the only reason behind people’s decision to work beyond retirement age. 26% of those questioned believe that by continuing to work seniors try to avoid loneliness, while another 25% said they do it out of personal interest or because they always used to go to work and can’t imagine their lives without doing it.

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