On the air of the program "Sкажинемолчи" on the "Беларусь 1" TV channel, the first deputy head of the Social Protection Fund of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Republic of Belarus, Ekaterina Likhacheva, spoke about the mechanisms of professional pension insurance and explained what is more important for a future pension - work experience or salary. This is reported by sb.by.

Professional pension insurance is a mechanism for supporting workers employed in special (hazardous and harmful) working conditions. Not all citizens can claim it, but only those whose work is associated with increased loads and risks. These categories include, for example, pilots, miners, gas and electric welders, as well as certain categories of teachers and medical workers. For these specialists, a separate payment of contributions is provided, from which the "second" pension is formed. Workers can receive payments either within the framework of professional insurance or in the form of an additional pension, the guest of the studio explained. At the same time, another direction is developing in the country - voluntary accumulative pension insurance. It is available to every working citizen and allows them to independently form additional pension savings.

Ekaterina Likhacheva told what a "quality" pension should be: This is a payment that allows a person to maintain their previous standard of living when they retire. Its task is to ensure the coverage of basic needs and leave the opportunity for personal expenses and small financial bonuses.

Answering the question of how work experience and contributions affect the pension, she emphasized: In Belarus, there are two main mechanisms for forming a pension. The first is a labor pension (obligatory system). Women retire at 58, men at 63. An important condition: to be eligible for a labor pension, you must have at least 20 years of insurance experience, i.e., 20 years with payment of contributions to the Social Protection Fund. The second is voluntary insurance, an additional tool that helps a person accumulate a second pension on their own. The length of insurance experience directly affects the size of the labor pension. 20 years is the minimum threshold that gives the right to a pension. The more experience beyond this minimum, the higher the coefficient and, accordingly, the final payment amount. There are also other benefits to insurance experience: it gives the right to paid sick leave. Thus, for workers with more than 10 years of experience, sick leave is paid from the first day at 100 percent of earnings (instead of 80 percent).

Explaining the importance of "transparent" employment, the first deputy head of the FSS noted:

The earlier a person starts official labor activity, the better it is for their future pension. It is essential that employment is transparent: unofficial part-time jobs are not taken into account when calculating the pension, since no contributions are paid to the FSS for them. It is worth noting separately the work under a contract agreement: contributions to the FSS are paid for such periods, but it is better to consider them as additional income or part-time job, rather than the main source of forming pension rights. It is also essential to consider that a month of insurance experience is counted only if contributions are paid from income not lower than the minimum wage. If the amount of contributions is lower, the month will be considered incomplete.

The speaker also explained what is more important for the future pension - work experience or salary from which contributions are paid:

Both are important, because if there is a short work experience, for example 20 years, and a high salary, the pension amount may turn out to be the same as for a person with a long insurance experience and a lower salary. These are two components that form the size of the future pension.