The Imperatives of Labor Immigration to Russia

Abstract

This article makes a case that the scale and intensity of labor immigration to Russia from both Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries and developed European Union (EU) countries will drop. From the position of economic theory, it analyzes the level and dynamics of migration flows from the East and the West by country of origin, assesses the impact of Europe’s migration crisis on the Russian labor market, and offers methods for evaluating the quality of immigration capital. Finally, it identifies a direct correlation between immigration and the average salaries of neighboring countries within international blocs and forecasts how the situation will develop on the European labor market.

Keywords:

• dual labor market theory
• immigration from CIS and EU countries
• innovation-driven economy
• migration crisis
• migration laws
• neoclassical migration theory
• policy of restrictions and protectionism
• pull and push factors
• quality of human capital
• social and labor standards

Notes

1. An analysis of the degree of the drop in migration flows from the CIS is given in Table 2.

2. The author’s analysis was conducted using official data from the Federal Migration Service: data from the official website of the FMS “Official Statistics. Statistical Information Regarding Foreign Citizens from a Number of States within the Russian Federation. Information Regarding Foreign Citizens within the Russian Federation, by Gender and Age (as of August 27, 2015).” http://www.fms.gov.ru/about/statistics/data/details/54891.

3. The analysis of immigration by country to Russia from CIS countries was conducted using official data from the Federal Migration Service: data from the official website of the FMS “Official Statistics. Statistical Information Regarding Foreign Citizens from a Number of States within the Russian Federation. Information Regarding Foreign Citizens with the Russian Federation, by Gender and Age (as of August 27, 2015).” http://www.fms.gov.ru/about/statistics/data/details/54891.

4. Calculated using data from the website: https://thinktanks.by/publication/2016/09/01/ zarplaty-v-stranah-sng-u-kogo-bolshe.html.

5. Ibid.

6. In 1966, Lee added Ravenstein’s foundational laws of migration to his economic theory.

7. RBK daily business newspaper. September 29, 2017, no. 179 (2435).

8. Ibid.

9. www.mirnov. February 20, 2016, no. 9 (1157).

10. See Table 1.

11. Rosstat data on implementation of Russia’s resettlement program, http://www.ruvek.info/?module=articles&action=view&id=10143.

12. In his estimates, the author uses data from the UN, Frontex, and lectures given by Professor Ceccorullu at the University of Bologna.

13. UN statistics.

14. Author’s estimate using UN and FRONTEX statistics.