in 2022, 1.7 million people came to Russia to work from the EAEU

In 2022, 1.7 million people came to work in the Russian Federation from the other four countries of the EAEU – the same as in 2021, more than half of the workers came from Kyrgyzstan (1 million people), follows from the information report “Eurasian Economic Integration”, which was prepared by the Ministry of Economy, the Analytical Center under the Government and the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade.

The single labor market of the EAEU countries began to gradually take shape since the formation of the union in 2014-2015, and in this part, integration has already gone quite far. The first norms were adopted that allow citizens of the countries of the union to work without obtaining a patent or work permit. They are not subject to the Ministry of Labor quotas for the allowable share of foreigners in the sectors of the economy. By 2019, the issues of pension, medical and social insurance for visiting workers were settled.

The Russian Federation, being the largest economy of the union, is also the main importer of labor. Most of the migrant workers who come to work are employed in industries such as construction and retail trade. The remittances they send back home can be up to a quarter of the country’s GDP, as, for example, in the case of Kyrgyzstan (23.8% of GDP in 2022). However, the share of workers from the EAEU countries is not the most significant part of labor migration to the Russian Federation. During the year, up to 9–10 million people can work in the country in total, a significant part of which are visitors from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

It should be noted that the relatively massive exodus of Russian citizens from the country, which occurred after the start of the military operation, and then in connection with mobilization, somewhat changed the migration flows in the EAEU. Thus, according to the estimates of the Armenian government, last year about 100 thousand Russians moved to this country, while labor migration from Armenia to the Russian Federation is estimated by the authors of the government report at 300 thousand people. Apparently, a comparable number of Russian workers also left for Kazakhstan (200,000 in the opposite direction). However, it is still impossible to estimate what part of those who left continue to work remotely for Russian companies, thus actually remaining part of the Russian labor market.

Anastasia Manuylova