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SOCIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
UDC 311.31
Kozlovsky Dmitry V.
Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor The Foreign Languages Department Saratov Socio-Economic Institute, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Saratov DOI: 10.24411/2520-6990-2019-11256 LABOUR MIGRATION FROM CENTRAL ASIA TO RUSSIA
Abstract
The article deals with the peculiarities of labour migration from Central Asia to Russia. The author studies substantive reasons and consequences of migration. Special attention is paid to migration level in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Keywords: Migration level, Labour migration, Remittance, Central Asia, Research of Migration
Labour migration from Central Asian countries has become a popular topic in Russia. According to the Russian Federal Migration Service, there were about 4.5 million citizens from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia residing in Russia as of December 4, 2019. This number accounts for 40 per cent of the total number of foreign citizens staying in Russia. The actual number of those who live and work in Russia is harder to calculate due to high rates of illegal migration, which some estimates place at up to 3.7 million people. And I would like to tell you about migration level in Kyrgyz-stan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan [1].
Starting with the economic implications, it is logical to mention first that labour migration and remittances are a key mechanism to address poverty. The beneficial effects of remittances on the researched countries' economies during the difficult years of building their independence have been recently widely regarded by the international organizations as the dominant factor for their economies. According to World Bank data, tens of millions of people live below the poverty line in Central Asia. In Tajikistan the figure is 35.6 per cent, in Uzbekistan - 17 per cent, while Russia had 11 per cent in 2019 [2].
In addition to this, GDP per capita in Tajikistan is $1,037, in Kyrgyzstan - $1,263, in Uzbekistan - $1,878 compared with $14,612 in Russia in 2013 [3].
The lowest average wage in the CIS area in 2018 was registered in Tajikistan: 164 USD, more than six times lower than in the Russian Federation. Tajikistan (1st place in 2018) and Kyrgyzstan (3rd place) are two of the most remittance dependent countries in the world, However, since many people transfer money in cash or goods, the true scale of money transfers is likely larger than officially indicated [4]. As a result, voluntary labour migration from poor to rich countries almost always benefits the migrant because of the difference in wages and living standards. Migrants working abroad can earn salaries that reflect, to some extent, economically advanced host-country prices, while their relatives can spend the money in their economically less developed home countries, where the prices of goods and services are much lower. In this sense, remittances fuel consumption and tend to be spent primarily on food
and clothing, to be invested in home repairs and improvements.
According to the Strategic Research Center under the President of Tajikistan, 85 per cent of Tajiks going to Russia received some kind of professional skills that they can use upon returning back home [5]. An opportunity to work in Russia leads to the alleviation of unemployment and underemployment pressures. Migration has a positive influence on the development of infrastructure, communication and public service delivery. For many people receipt of remittances represented their first contact with the banking system. Remittances have helped to strengthen the banking system in Tajikistan. Specifically, mass outmigration has encouraged the development of simplified regulations for money transfers in the country, where by the recipient does not need to have a bank account to receive remittances. On this basis, local banks compete with each other and other financial intermediaries already established internationally (Western Union, Quick Pay, Unistream) [6]. While only a small proportion of remittances are deposited, even these amounts have helped the banks to expand credit access to the private sector and further develop banking services. Microfinance institutions and small businesses have thus grown a stronger financial base. Finally, the phenomenon of migration has spurred the development of many migration-related businesses: IP-phones, internet cafes that facilitate communication between migrants and their families at home, currency exchange bureaus, travel agencies providing bus and train tickets and others. Like migrants' families, however, this small, flourishing private sector is dependent on the same factors that determine migration flows and remittance volumes.
With a significant portion of their workforce abroad, Central Asian societies face other problems such as lower tax revenues and a lack of funds to ensure the normal functioning of the state social insurance system, the central component of social protection for citizens. The question of pension provision is a looming one, as a generation of people that have worked as labour migrants, mostly in the informal sector, comes of age. Most migrants are confident that in old age or in case of disability, family and relatives will support
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them. From 2011 the employer in the Russian Federation is responsible for making pension contributions for the foreign worker, who signed an employment contract for an indefinite term or for a definite period but not less than six months [7]. The issue is that migrant workers from Central Asia are often seasonal workers that go abroad for several months and then return to their country of origin. While a person who is illegally employed abroad does not make any contributions to the pension fund. The migrants that work without a work permit or license make it possible for the employers to reduce their production costs not only by lower wages, but also by evading insurance contributions. The situation with the health insurance is going to improve soon. Starting from 2015 the Russian Federation introduces changes to the Labour Code that requires the policy of voluntary medical insurance in order to obtain working license. The lack of dual citizenship agreements between countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan with Russia (only Tajikistan has such agreement ) is a problem for Kyrgyz and Uzbek migrants that work abroad. Tajikistan began to issue biometric passports in 2010, so Tajiks could travel to Russia by domestic passports. But in 2014 the Russian government issued a decree by which, beginning on January 1, 2015, the citizens of Taj ikistan are to enter Russia without international travel passports. The price of obtaining an international passport is $240-330, that will put a severe strain on the income of many Tajiks [8].
One of the important social consequences of migration in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, is the so-called "missing men" phenomenon. Given that the majority of migrants are men, massive migration has had a dramatic effect on women's role in the families of Central Asian countries. First, it creates acute problems of gender imbalance, with concurrent implications for families. Second, it empowers women by increasing their role in the family. Current migration statistics suggest that 83 per cent of migrants from Tajikistan are men. Because of the resulting gender imbalance in Tajikistan, parents are concerned about their daughters' chances of getting married, and thus agree on marriage at a younger age. In some cases, the minimum age has dropped to 15-16 years old. Many schoolgirls do not finish high school and get married, despite the fact that marriage for persons under 18 years of age is prohibited by national law. In agricultural economies the absence of men means that women have to do the hard work in the fields in addition to carrying the burden of looking after the family, and the house. This blurring of the boundary between what is considered men's and women's work in societies has substantial effects of migration on families and households [9].
Another problem is the increasing number of divorces that migration has caused. Men working abroad find new families and divorce their wives, or simply never return. Every year 14,000 Tajik migrants establish new families in Russia and abandon their wives. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 1/3 of migrants' wives were abandoned by their husbands due to them permanently settling in the host country. Religious custom allows divorces if the word "talak" is repeated three times by a
man, even via SMS or phone conversation In many rural communities in Central Asia, it is almost impossible for a woman to get married again if she has been divorced once. Moreover, if a woman has not registered the marriage with the state, she can be left without rights to property or childcare payments. Moreover, there are a number of cases where in women agree to become a man's second or third wife [10].
Based on the above it is possible to conclude that:
• Labour migration to Russia has become the main source of income for many families living in Central Asia. It causes drastic changes in the lifestyle, family structure and population composition of the traditional societies of Central Asian countries.
• Remittances improve living standards and revive local economies through increasing consumption and domestic investment, but delay governmental reforms by removing a stimulus to restructure national economies and develop local industries and production. Moreover, these small-scale improvements are usually insufficient to create serious economic progress and are usually hampered by a lack of basic services such as water, roads, electricity and public transport.
• In order to address the new challenges caused by labour migration, the governments of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan should initiate discussions at the highest level using regional forums to facilitate negotiations with the Russian Federation on issues of social insurance, health insurance, pension provision and citizenship.
• The ministries of education and health of the respective Central Asian states and international organizations ought to create an effective mechanism to protect the rights of the child. Special attention should be paid to protection of children from forced labour and violence. The development of recreation and out-of-school institutions infrastructure will cushion the impact of parents' migration on their children.
• Research on migration from Central Asian countries to Russia has been mainly focused on the effects on the Russian labour market, attitudes of Russian citizens towards foreign workers, and measures adopted by the Russian government to regulate migration flows. Little attention has been paid to the effects of migration on countries of origin. Even though this topic is of special interest to different UN agencies and non-governmental organizations, there is a lack of research and critical discussion on issues pertaining to labour migration, particularly on practical guidelines that could be applied to protect the rights of migrants and their families and deal with the negative consequences of migration.
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