CLASSIFICATION OF INSURED PERSONS ACCORDING TO THE OLD-AGE INSURANCE PLAN OF 1907.

[Source: Official text of the bill and report accompanying same.]

In computing the annual earnings the value of all compensation, food, lodgings, etc., must be considered; the annual earnings are taken as equal to 12 times the monthly earnings, 52 times the weekly earnings, or 280 times the daily wages. In case of piecework the class is determined by agreement between employer and employee, or by reference to an insurance inspector.

The premiums are to be paid weekly and in the amounts indicated in the table. The payments made while the insured person is employed are obligatory, and equal shares are contributed by the employer and employee. Voluntary payments may be made during nonemployment and then entirely by the employee. The level of old-age pensions is definitely established. To receive an old-age pension a person must be at least 60 years of age and show at least 1,000 "paid-up weeks." In addition to the number of weeks for which the premiums were actually paid in, either in the form of obligatory or of optional payments, the privilege is given to count the time spent in military service, or the time of disability due to sickness not to exceed 4 weeks in one year; in case of maternity, 8 weeks may be counted in one year. The right to a pension lapses when less than 40 weeks are paid up during two years. It may be reestablished by paying up new 200 weeks. The right to the pension is lost at death of the pensioner, or when the pensioner is granted another pension at least equal in amount, for disability resulting from injury. It may be suspended temporarily under certain conditions.

If an insured male person dies before acquiring the right to a pension a funeral benefit, equal to two-thirds of the annual value of the old-age pension of the same group to which the last 40 premium payments belonged, is paid to his widow or children. When these payments were distributed between different wage groups, a corresponding adjustment is to be made. In case of death of a female married insured person the surviving husband receives this benefit only in case of disability and dependency upon the earnings of the deceased wife.

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The pensions for invalidity (inability to work) are granted either permanently or temporarily, without consideration as to age, but not before premiums for at least 200 weeks have been credited to the account of the insured, of which at least 100 weeks must have been actually paid in. The basic invalidity pensions as shown in the above table are smaller than the old-age pensions. In the five wage groups they represent, respectively, three-fourths, two-thirds, five-eighths, three-fifths, and seven-twelfths of the old-age pension. But the invalidity pensions are increased with the length of service. For each "counted in" insurance week a small increment is added to the annual value of the invalidity pension; provided, however, that only when 40 weeks have been counted within one calendar year, or 80 weeks within two calendar years, are these increments added. Only the first and the last years of insurance are excepted from this qualification, all the counted weeks giving the right to additional increments, no matter how many or how few there were within one year. Methods of computing the old-age pensions and basic invalidity pensions in case of change from one group to another during the insurance period are given in the bill.

The main revenue is to be derived from the weekly contributions. Many minor sources are mentioned, such as fines, proceeds from sale of insurance cards and pension books, incomes from investments, and fines and penalties; but with all these the need of a substantial subsidy from the state treasury is expected. This subsidy is of a double nature, first, the payment of the premiums for insured persons while performing military service; and, second, in meeting part of the cost of each old-age or invalidity pension, namely, 2 rubles ($1.03) per month. The amounts thus due are to be paid every four months and in advance from the treasury into the insurance fund. The premiums during military service are to be computed at the minimum rate, 10 copecks (5.2 cents) per week. The cost of pension payments, of administration, and of medical care of pensioners are charged to the insurance fund. The fund must be placed on deposit with the state treasury, and that part of it which is not needed for current operation is to be invested in government securities or other designated securities.

The payment of weekly premiums is planned in accordance with the German system, which the bill closely follows in many details. Each insured person has a personal insurance card. The weekly premiums are paid by means of stamps pasted on this card by the employer, who is authorized to deduct half their value from the wages of the employee. Instead of additional voluntary contributions, provided for in earlier schemes, the bill permits the employee to have a stamp of a higher denomination than on his card, provided he pays the entire difference in cost. Full insurance cards are

exchanged for new ones by the insurance agencies when the number of weeks counted in for other seasons is certified to.

For the purposes of administration of this pension system a new administrative system is proposed by the bill, headed by a central insurance office, district insurance offices, insurance inspectors, insurance agencies, and county (uiezd) insurance councils. The entire administrative machinery is subject to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The agencies are planned in connection with offices of the state savings bank, post-offices, and other financial or administrative institutions of the central government and local governments, and sick benefit funds or insurance associations. These agencies perform mainly such financial operations as require relations with the insured persons or their employers. The insurance inspector supervises the activity of these agencies within his district and also regulates the administration of the law within that district. The district insurance office may be appealed to against the decisions of the inspectors, grant pensions or benefits, and administer the insurance funds in its district, etc. The general supervision of the law and the final decision of doubtful cases is left with the central insurance office.

The bill does not contain any provisions as to the mode of meeting a possible deficit beyond the demand that the rate of premium be revised not later than ten years from the organization of the fund, on the basis of statistical information obtained during the first years of its activity. A very careful actuarial computation of the expected cost of the old-age and invalidity pension was made in connection with the preparation of the bill, and the results of this computation used for determining the premium rates.

The annual premiums necessary, according to this computation, tɔ meet the cost of the pensions are compared in the following table with the actual rates proposed in the bill. In this comparison it is assumed that there would be, on an average, 40 weekly premium payments per annum. It is also shown that the treasury subsidy of 24 rubles ($12.36) per pension is equal to a premium of 1.62 rubles (83.4 cents) per annum.

COMPUTED NECESSARY PREMIUMS COMPARED WITH PREMIUMS PROPOSED IN THE OLD-AGE INSURANCE PLAN OF 1907. [Source: Official text of the bill and report accompanying same.]

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Pravitelstvufushchi Senat. Svod Zakonov Rossilsko Imperii. Tom 1-16. (The Governing Senate: Code of Laws of the Russian Empire.) St. Petersburg, 1885-1903. Pravitelstvuíushchi Senat. Sobranie Uzakonenii i Rasporiazheniť Pravitel'stva, izdavaemoe pri Pravitelstvuíushchem Senate. (The Governing Senate: Collection of laws and orders of the Government, published by authority of the Governing Senate.) St. Petersburg, 1908.

Proekty, vnesionnye Sovietom Ministrov v Gosudarstvennuiu Dumu 23 iunia 1908 goda. (Bills introduced into the Imperial Duma by the Council of Ministers, June 23, 1908.) St. Petersburg, 1908.

(a) Polozhenie o Prisutstviíakh po dielam strakhovanía rabochikh. (Regulations in regard to workmen's insurance commissions.)

(b) Polozhenie o Soviete po díelam strakhovanía rabochikh. (Regulations in regard to a workmen's insurance council.)

(c) Polozhenie o strakhovanii rabochikh ot neschastnykh sluchaev. (Regulations governing insurance of workmen against accidents.)

(d) Polozhenie ob obespechenii rabochikh na sluchai bolesni. (Regulations governing provision for workmen in case of illness.)

Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdiel Promyshlennosti. Dieloproisvodstvo glavnavo po fabrichnym i gornosavodskim dielam prisutstvima. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry, office of the central factory and mining commission.) St. Petersburg, 1908.

(a) Ob uchrezhdeniť prisutstviť po díelam strakhovania rabochikh. (Concerning the establishment of workmen's insurance commissions.)

(b) Ob uchrezhdeniť Sovieta po dielam strakhovania rabochikh. (Concening the establishment of a workmen's insurance council.)

(c) Ob obespechneĭ rabochikh na sluchať boliezni. (Concerning the provision for workmen in case of illness.)

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Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Materialy po peresmotru rabochavo zakonodatel'stva. Osnovnya polozhenfa vytekaiushchira iz sostavlennykh v Ministerstvíe Torgovli i Promyshlennosti proektov po rabochemu zakonodatelstvu. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Data concerning labor legislation. The basic principles underlying the labor legislation proposals, prepared in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.) St. Petersburg, 1907.

Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Polozhenie o Glavnom Strakhovom Upravlenii. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Regulations concerning the central insurance office.) St. Petersburg, 1907. Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Polozhenie ob obíazatelnom strakhovanii ot invalidnosti i starosti. Proekt. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Regulations concerning obligatory insurance against invalidism and old age. A bill.) St. Petersburg, 1907. Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdiel Promyshlennosti. Opredelenie rasmėra strakhovykh vsnosov neobkhodimykh dla obespechenia vydach, predusmotrennykh proektom polozhenia ob obfazatelnom strakhovanii ot starosti i invalidnosti. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. The determination of the amount of insurance premiums necessary for guaranteeing

the benefits, proposed by the project of the law of obligatory insurance against old age and invalidism.) St. Petersburg, 1907. Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdiel Promyshlennosti. Dopolnennie k zapiske o raschiote premiť po strakhovanii invalidnosti i starosti. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Supplement to the memorial concerning the computation of the premiums of invalidism and old-age insurance.) St. Petersburg, 1907. Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Polozhenie ob obíazatelnom strakhovanii rabochikh ot neschastnykh sluchaev. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Regulations of obligatory insurance of workmen against accidents. Text of legislative proposal.) St. Petersburg, 1907.

Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Statistika neschastnykh sluchaev s rabochimi v promyshlennykh zavedeniakh, podchinionnykh nadsoru fabrichnof inspektzii 1901-5. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Statistics of accidents to workmen in industrial establishments, subject to factory inspection, 1901-5.) St. Petersburg, 1903-8. (The reports for 1901 and 1902 were published by the Ministry of Finance.) Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Gorny Departament. Statistika neschastnykh shuchaev s rabochimi v predpriatiakh gornoť Ĭ gornosavodskoť promyshlennosti, podchinionnykh gornomu nadsoru, 1905, 1906. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Mining Department. Statistics of accidents to workmen in mining and metallurgical establishments subject to mining inspection.) St. Petersburg.

Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Statisticheskia svedenia o resultatakh primenenia zakona 2 iunia 1903 goda. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Statistical report concerning the result of the application of the law of June 2, 1903.) St. Petersburg, 1908.

Ministerstvo Torgovli i Promyshlennosti. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Svod otchotov fabrichnykh inspectorov, 1900-1908. (Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Bureau of Industry. Digest of the reports of the factory inspectors, 1900–1905.) St. Petersburg, 1903-1910. (The reports for 1900, 1901, and 1902 were published by the Ministry of Finance.)

Ministerstvo Finansov. Otdíel Promyshlennosti. Materialy k isucheniu rabochavo voprosa. Po offitzialn'ym dannym. Mart, 1905. (Ministry of Finance, Bureau of Industry. Materials for the study of the labor problem. From official data. March, 1905.) St. Petersburg, 1905.

Ministerstvo Finansov. Departament Torgovli i Manufaktur. Vrachebnaia pomoshch fabrichnym rabochim. Sostavleno i rasrabotano fabrichnym revisorom E. M. Dementievym. (Ministry of Finance, Department of Commerce and Manufactures. Compiled and elaborated by factory inspector E. M. Dementiev.). St. Petersburg, 1899.

Ministerstvo Finansov. Departament Torgovli i Manufaktur. Sbornik uzakonenii, pravil, u rasporíazhenii po díelam kasaiushchimsía fabrichnoi inspektzii. Vypusk 1-3. (Ministry of Finance, Department of Commerce and Manufactures. Collection of laws, rules, and orders concerning factory inspection. Fascicle 1-3.) St. Petersburg, 1898, 1899, 1902. Ministerstvo Finansov. Otchot pensionno kassy vol'nonaiomnykh sluzhashchikh po kazionnoi prodazhe pitei, 1900-1905. (Ministry of Finance. Report of the pension fund of the civil employees of the government sale of liquors. 1900-1905.) St. Petersburg, 1903-1908.

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