Measures to regulate labor migration have been assessed: will Russians replace guest workers?

“We need to understand where it is possible to replace ten workers with shovels with one robot, and where not”

The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia proposed legalizing the mandatory publication of vacancies for which it is expected to attract workers from abroad. The initiative of the FNPR is in line with new regulatory measures caused by the terrorist attack in Crocus and making it more difficult for labor migrants to stay in the Russian Federation.

Previously, the Ministry of Labor developed a bill providing for the creation of a special document that confirms the right of a foreign citizen to temporary work in the country in the order of targeted organized recruitment. According to the leadership of the trade unions, it is in this document that the clause on mandatory publication of vacancies should be spelled out, and “at least 15 calendar days before contacting the recruitment operator.”

“At the same time, the conditions published in vacancies (salary level, social package, possibility of providing housing) should not change when attracting labor migrants,” noted Elena Kosakovskaya, deputy head of the department of social and labor relations and social partnership of the FNPR. According to her, the FNPR also proposes to impose on the state-owned company the responsibility for organizing the departure of a migrant and his family outside the country upon expiration of the employment contract and paying the corresponding expenses.

“The situation is clear and at the same time complex,” says leading researcher at INION RAS, Doctor of Economics Sergei Smirnov. – On the one hand, Russia needs migrants, and not only as a labor force. Our country has a huge problem with the birth rate: as experts from the National Research University Higher School of Economics have calculated, in order to maintain the population at 146 million people, the country must attract an average of 390 thousand migrants annually for 80 years. In a negative scenario, they will need 1.1 million per year. On the other hand, according to Marx, it is necessary to replace manual labor with materialized labor. Why do we need artificial intelligence and robotics? In order to respond to demographic challenges in the labor sphere. Unlike the founder of scientific communism, few people talk about this today. Plus, this is a guarantee of maintaining social stability. After what happened at Crocus, rejection of people of other nationalities becomes a serious risk for society and the state.

– Is it possible to prevent the risks associated with migrant workers and national diasporas solely through administrative and regulatory measures, by tightening legislation?

– This is not enough, no matter what the Ministry of Labor now offers or does. There is a problem of insufficient interdepartmental cooperation. It would be logical if people from the Ministry of Labor studied the situation together with colleagues from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, looked at where it is possible to replace ten workers “with shovels” with one robot, and where this is impossible. Thinking ahead is the responsibility of federal legislators and executive authorities. In addition, I have not seen a single opinion poll that would clarify how newcomers live, what does not suit them in Russia, in their employer.

– Can Russia do without migrant workers?

– In the long term, definitely not. The Soviet Union got by, but it had a completely different economic structure, different mechanisms – for example, the same organizational recruitment to the capital from insufficiently wealthy areas. And now the resources have been exhausted – physical, motivational, and psychological. Russians do not go to work in construction or in housing and communal services because there are no longer those who are ready for this. “Why should I sweep the yard?” – the majority thinks.