RUSSIA: Russian economy relies on labour migrants, but many work illegally

Record ID: 348493

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian economy relies on labour migrants, but many work illegally
  • Date: 17th November 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) GROUP OF FEDERAL MIGRATION SERVICE OFFICERS AT CONSTRUCTION SITE FEDERAL MIGRATION SERVICE OFFICERS TALKING CONSTRUCTION WORKER AT WINDOW FEDERAL MIGRATION SERVICE MEMBER WITH MIGRANT WORKER AT CONSTRUCTION SITE HAND HOLDING PASSPORT - SIZED DOCUMENT IN BLUE COVER FEDERAL MIGRATION SERVICE WORKER CHECKING UNREGISTERED MIGRANT WORKER
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3QM7GTCXMP1FMZ1MEAUM2XKHA
  • Story Text: Russia is experiencing a boom in migration from former Soviet republics such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as Central Asian workers - numbering close to 10 million, according to some estimates - make the long journey north to find employment. Many of them work illegally.
    Migrant workers in Russia are often employed in low-skilled jobs such as street sweepers and road diggers, as well as on building sites, often with no fixed contract from their employers.
    Outside of Moscow near the Rublovskoye highway, the supervisor of a small migrant workers' brigade Bakht Izdachev said that the wages of migrant workers were very low.
    "If you count the months that (a worker) works here - five for example - and in total he will get 30 thousand (roubles or approximately $1,000) or 40 (thousand roubles - approximately $1,300) maximum - for five months of work. And he has a wife and children (to keep)," Izdachev said in reference to migrant workers employed in construction jobs near the capital.
    Many of Russia's millions of migrants are seasonal and leave for home after spending a working summer in Moscow.
    "During December, January and February we will go home - it's cold here and there will be snow soon," one migrant, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.
    Most of Russia's migrants come to its capital city looking for work, according to the deputy head of Moscow's Federal Migration Service, Sergey Shevyrev.
    "Concerning those (who come from) nearby foreign (countries), the majority come to work here and to find a use for themselves, if we are speaking about Moscow. Of those there are a few students, some people come here for personal visits - to visit their relatives, for example - most, I repeat, come here to find work," Shevyrev told Reuters.
    Citizens of neighbouring central Asian countries often have a visa-free travel status in Russia, and many migrants come to work in Russia without any legal permission.
    The chairman of the Central Migrant Workers' Union said that the percentage of migrants that have the legal right to work in Russia is very low.
    "Some say there are eight million, some say 10 million, and others 12 million migrants in Russia - of these, there are only 1.5 million who have the possibility to work legally. Others, in fact, are required to leave the territory of the Russian Federation," chairman Renat Karimov told Reuters, adding that, without proper documentation many migrants are vulnerable to abuse, including withheld wages from employers, over-long working hours and the inability to receive paid health care in Russian clinics.
    Inspectors and Russian police officers regularly make raids on work camps and construction sites to check whether migrant workers have legal documentation.
    "The aim of such raids is to (make sure people) follow the immigration laws of the city of Moscow. In other words, issuing documents for foreign citizens working here in accordance with the availability of (said) appropriate permissions," senior Moscow City Federal Migration Service Inspector Roman Romanov told Reuters.
    The increase in migrant workers has sparked fears among some Russians that the newly arrived and cheaper workforce will take jobs away from native Russians.
    The resentment towards the influx of migrant workers has been fanned by economic slowdown and high unemployment, despite predictions from analysts who say Russia will rely more and more on migrants for economic growth in the medium term as its own population shrinks.
    According to Nikolai Petrov, an analyst at Moscow's Carnegie Centre, however, migrant workers from Central Asia work at positions that would never be accepted by Russian workers.
    "The issue is not that they (migrants) are taking away the jobs of native (Russian) people, but that businesses find this silent and submissive work force from abroad much more useful," Petrov told Reuters.
    Nonetheless, resentment of Russia's migrant workers remains, much of it translating into racism and hate crimes.
    Human rights activists say officials have long turned a blind eye to nationalism and xenophobia in a country where racist violence and vandalism are a regular occurrence.
    Rights workers say the Russian government's lenient attitude to the far right allows racism to flourish in Russia, which is home to some 20 million Muslims, a seventh of the population.
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