Who are pre-retirees? To the question of the social status of the group

This reviewdiscusses stratification models and empirical studies ofthe social statusofpeopleofretirement age in modern Russia. Our goal is to identify the social markings of the group and its status features, as well as the differences in managerial and scientific discourses of its assessment. The pension reform that began in 2019 significantly changes the group of pre-retirees: its number is increasing, it is getting older and differented bythe age and generational cohorts. Moreover, the timeofchange is reflected in constructs “yuothful retired persons”, “a working old-age pensioners”, “youngest-old retirees” and “new pre-retirees”. Differences approaches to status stratification, based on differences in managerial and scientific discourses are evident. The management approach is largely situational andrelated to the category of “pre-retirement time” as the period prior to the retirement of old age. This approach is focused, first, on the labor productivity, and, secondly, on the formal-legal definition ofthestatus. The research approach isformed under theinfluence of global strategic discourse and differentiates the macro-social and organizational-social levels of social stratification. Within this framework, the social status of people of pre-retirement age is associated with socio-economic activity and human capital, employment andprofessional career. This group is related primarily tothecategoryof“older workers”, which combines employed pre-retirees and post-retirees and indicates the characteristics of the status associated with social attitudes to elderly. Publications on the social status of pre-retirees over the past five years indicate that the research tradition is dominated by a macro-economic rather than organizational approach. In addition, stratification models use mainly employment and human capital indicators as differentiating features, but not indicators of labor force and career potential. The research results revealed the following features of the status of pre-retirees: the growth of economic activity ofolder workers; thegrowth ofemployment ofhighlyqualified workers in market and high-tech sectors ofthe economy; the significant impact of informal employment; the presence of age discrimination in wages and employment; insignificant representation in new institutional forms ofeconomic activityand social entrepreneurship.