“Ideal workers!”: the president of the Russian Federation of Migrants advocated the import of North Koreans

The problem of using foreign labor in Russia has two sides, and in this regard, the interests of business often diverge from the interests of the indigenous residents of Russia, and what can I say – and the Russian state as a whole. Recently, there has been a lot of talk about attracting labor migrants from North Korea and Vietnam against the backdrop of the outflow of guest workers from Central Asia and the Caucasus to their homeland. Experts on the air of the Public News Service argued about how to solve the problem of labor shortage in Russia.

Politician and public figure Dmitry Demushkin is confident that if employers raised wages, they would not lack personnel. “If there is a shortage of labor, wages should change,” he said. – It is clear that it is easier for a business to solve the problem by ordering the required number of workers from Central Asia (which of them will complain to the labor inspectorate that they are not given vacation, that they were not paid extra as promised, etc.? They don’t even speak Russian often they don’t know), and after the end of the project, employers are not interested in where they go.

It is precisely because of this, according to the expert, that all the problems with migrants that we observe occur: after the completion of one or another large project (we are most often talking, for example, about construction projects), labor migrants “spread around the cities”, who Some find work, some don’t, and some find it illegally. According to the politician, the state should ensure that guest workers return to their homeland after the end of their employment contract. But since no one is monitoring this, “the number of migrants is increasing every year, despite the ever-increasing concern of the population,” and, moreover, they also want to bring workers to Russia from other countries.

But the President of the Federation of Migrants of Russia Vadim Kozhenov, in turn, assured that wages have “increased very much” in recent years: for example, workers with average qualifications are already paid 80-100,000 rubles, “we have many applications for skilled labor with a salary 150,000 rubles, but people cannot find any employees for such positions.” “Why are we talking about North Korea and India? Because those from Central Asia and the Caucasus who wanted to work with us have all already arrived,” he said. – And that’s why in recent years the number of migrants in Russia has remained virtually unchanged (they leave and come once a year, but the approximate number remains the same). I believe that if a migrant works well and earns money, brings his family here and supports them with this money, such people should be supported, although not everyone will agree with me.”

Kozhenov explained why he supports the arrival of labor migrants from North Korea and Vietnam with both hands. Firstly, because they will not have religious disagreements with Russians, and “there will be no extremism,” and, secondly, Russia has long had excellent, warm relations with these countries. According to him, if our countries agree on this issue (and this should happen in the near future), then “the North Koreans will close our labor shortage.” The expert emphasized that those employers who deal with North Korean personnel literally “pray on them,” they are such ideal workers. And besides, they are “non-conflict”, and in general crime in these countries is several times lower. At the same time, the arrival of labor resources from North Korea to Russia will be strictly through the embassy, ​​through “one window”, “they came for a year and went back.”

However, Demushkin, in response to this, skeptically noted that the “non-conflict” of the North Koreans and Vietnamese “will last for the first time, but when you bring in a million of them, their attitude will change.” In a word, unlike the president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia, Demushkin believes that the problem of labor shortage needs to be solved by increasing wages and thereby attracting native Russians to replace migrants from Central Asia. “Has anyone counted how many migrants we should have? – he asked himself a question. – Should there be some kind of limitation? 10%, 20% or 50%? How many people are we ready to accept, along with their families, who will fill kindergartens and schools with children, who enter into cultural conflicts with local residents?”

He emphasized that, according to figures from the Russian Investigative Committee, the statistics of especially serious crimes committed by migrants has doubled! And if throughout the country the percentage of labor migrants is not large, then in Moscow, Moscow Region, St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, where guest workers go en masse, their proportions in relation to indigenous residents cause concern among our population. “This issue is politically important for the state, and it must determine what it wants in this matter? – said Demushkin. – Or do they want to increase the number of taxis and construction workers (and utility workers) in Moscow at the expense of migrants, or will the authorities think about what will happen in Russia in 10-20 years? Indeed, against the backdrop of population extinction, against the backdrop of Russians leaving for other countries, attempts to “shut up” demographic problems with migrants, “distributing Russian citizenship” are fraught with interethnic tension, which is much more dangerous if you don’t wait for a taxi…”

To which the president of the Federation of Migrants of Russia replied that it “cannot be” to calculate how much foreign labor Russia needs, and he himself is “a big opponent” of counting such things, since “any quotas lead to bribes.” Moreover, this figure may fluctuate. In addition, according to him, according to Rosstat figures, starting from 2024, the working population in Russia will decrease by 2% every year! (and this is not only death, but also retirement). “Currently the working population of Russia is 97 million people, and a couple of million will leave the labor market every year, these are huge numbers! We won’t even be able to replace these numbers with migrants,” he admitted. Perhaps automation and robotization of production will be our salvation.

In short, experts currently do not have a consensus on how we can solve the problem of labor shortage in Russia.