Role of International Labour Migration in Russian Economic Development

Abstract

In the two post-Soviet decades Russia has become actively involved in international labour flows. Today Russia acts as an exporter and an importer of labour in the global labour market: Russian citizens work all over the world, from Europe to New Zealand; while labor migrants in the Russian Federation are predominantly citizens from the former Soviet republics. Russia annually attracts around 1.5 million labour migrants, three quarters of whom come from the CIS countries. In fact, the Russian labour market is a regional one, employing millions of citizens of the post-Soviet countries, a fact which, in the end, provides relative social stability in the region. The present executive summary examines both sides of Russian participation in the global labour market. However, the main focus is on labour migration to Russia, as the import of labour resources is larger and more significant for the country’s economic development.