It is proposed to increase the minimum work experience for a pension to 15 years – what does this mean?

It is proposed to increase the minimum work experience required for receiving a pension to 15 years — what does this mean?

According to Abror Kholmatov, head of a department at the Pension Fund, the draft project being prepared for pension reform envisages a gradual increase in the minimum work experience required for citizens to be granted a pension, bringing it up to 15 years.

At the same time, citizens are also being given the opportunity to build up their work experience independently. In particular, if a citizen registers as a self-employed person and pays social tax, this period will be added to their work experience.

"Citizens should aim to accumulate work experience starting now. By registering as a self-employed person and paying social tax, they are given the opportunity to build up experience for their future pension. This mechanism can be seen as a norm that encourages citizens to build up their work experience in advance," Kholmatov said.

According to him, in recent years, the share of those retiring with the minimum work experience in the pension assignment process has been increasing. For example, in 2010, when the Pension Fund was established, approximately 6 percent of newly assigned pensions were granted based on the minimum work experience, whereas today this figure has reached nearly 60 percent.

"This shows that the rate at which citizens build up work experience above the established level is declining. One of the reasons for this is that until now, there was no sufficient mechanism to accumulate work experience independently.

Now, by registering as a self-employed person and paying social tax, citizens are given the opportunity to build up their own work experience for their future pension.

The minimum work experience will also be increased gradually, not all at once. For example, the seven-year requirement will later be increased to eight years, then to nine years, and so on," he said.

Another representative of the Fund, Sardor Fayzullayev, noted that Convention No. 102 of the International Labour Organization recommends that the minimum work experience for assigning a pension should not be less than 15 years.

"This does not mean that this change is being introduced solely because of the convention's requirement. The main goal is to encourage citizens to work longer and formally.

For example, if a man starts his career at the age of 18 and retires at 60, his career spans 42 years. If the current seven-year minimum experience requirement is applied, this equals only 17 percent of his 42-year career. For a citizen who can work for 42 years, the seven-year experience requirement represents a very small share. This, in turn, could lead to his future pension remaining at the minimum amount," he said.