The country’s economy will be boosted by Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis.
Ural companies are ready to hire workers from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, according to “Kommersant” citing Dmitry Antonov, the director of the regional labor and employment department of the Sverdlovsk region. Some media outlets add Myanmar to this list, and “RG” writes that workers can be brought in from Africa.
Consultations are already underway with us to attract electricians, metallurgical workers, and construction specialists. While we haven’t approved any applications yet, I think these employees will be working in companies in the Sverdlovsk region by 2024, Antonov is quoted by the media.
It’s understandable; the Urals are the backbone of Russia’s military-industrial complex, and the country is engaged in a Special Military Operation.
Local officials note that in the region, there are almost 60,000 vacancies for nearly 12,000 job seekers. So far, many positions have been filled by arrivals from Central Asia and the South Caucasus – 200,000 came last year, but even they are struggling. Up to 60% of companies report a significant shortage of personnel.
The situation in the Sverdlovsk region is like the whole country in miniature. According to a survey by the Institute of Economic Growth named after P.A. Stolypin, 54% of employers across Russia are experiencing a shortage of personnel. Last fall, Anton Sviridenko, the director of this institute, proposed attracting labor from India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.
Labor Migrants – A Green Corridor
In Russia, there are currently many low-paying jobs that neither Russians nor citizens coming to work here from Central Asia are interested in, says Alexander Safonov, the vice-rector of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, in an interview with GORUS.
This is partly due to structural changes in the labor market (many people become couriers because salaries are higher there), but the main reason is the exchange rate of the ruble to the dollar, which is not as favorable as before:
“If it’s less than a thousand dollars a month, they’re not interested. Unlike the lower strata in South and Southeast Asia, where the main concern is often to feed oneself.”
Therefore, other sources of labor resources have to be found – from distant countries, including all those listed, as well as Vietnam, Nepal, etc.
“For the implementation of such plans, interstate agreements are needed,” the expert is convinced. “Complex situations should be specified in them. If a migrant dies, where to take him? Or if he gets sick, gets injured at work – how to treat him? Or if he violates Russian law – what to do with him? So, control over the rights of workers is needed. Not all employers here are decent.”
According to Safonov, agreements will allow regulating such “recruitments,” ensuring pre-selection of personnel in the countries from which migrants come and, possibly, their organized import and accommodation.
Business Ombudsman Boris Titov addressed Vladimir Putin with a proposal to simplify the mechanism of labor migration from “visa” countries in Southeast Asia. In his opinion, it is no longer possible to develop the economy solely at the expense of CIS citizens. Such workers need to be taken beyond the framework of labor quotas with the consent of the employer and the state.
Among other measures: replace the work permit with a patent, like with visa-free countries in Central Asia, issue visas online, cancel the requirement to take an exam in Russian, history, and the basics of law, but oblige to provide DNA and undergo a medical examination.
Otherwise, the “economy will come to a standstill.”
The Urals are ready to hire workers from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan
“Asia, Where the Skies are a Cup of Poison”
When it comes to the word “Bangladesh,” Russians often conjure up the typical image of a moving train, swarmed from top to bottom with thin, dark-skinned people in bright clothes. The obvious conclusion: there are many people, but little money. Therefore, those willing to earn in Russia, albeit icy from their point of view, will be found.
- Countries in South Asia have a surplus of labor, confirmed Sergey Rabey, a researcher at the Center for Indian Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, to – The average salary in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and even in India, where it is, of course, higher than that of neighbors in the region, is still significantly lower than in Russia.
Many migrant workers from India work in the Persian Gulf countries, South Africa, and Singapore. The standard of living is higher there, the travel distance is short, and there is already a large, established Indian diaspora. However, the climate is not that important. After all, in the northern regions of India, winters are almost like in Russia. However, the ruble’s exchange rate to the rupee has fallen by 30%, and the salary gap has also narrowed.
Sri Lanka has not yet recovered from a prolonged crisis. A cruel globalist “super-green” experiment was conducted there: what would happen to agriculture if pesticides and fertilizers were abandoned? This led to severe crop failures and, consequently, famine. Pakistan suffered significantly from floods and faced a trade blockade by India.
According to the expert, of these countries, Bangladesh may be the most promising supplier of labor. There is massive unemployment, and the population exceeds that of Russia. Natural resources are almost non-existent. People live very modestly – mostly engaging in fishing and working in the textile industry.
- Another matter is the qualification of the workforce, notes Sergey Rabey. – For positions like loaders, unskilled workers, and construction workers, individuals from South Asia may be suitable. But if we talk, for example, about machinists for Ural plants, it’s probably better to train our own workforce. Therefore, it is unlikely to turn into a large-scale campaign to recruit labor resources.
Nevertheless, “Asia, where the skies are a cup of poison,” as a poet wrote, is already moving towards Russia…
Train passengers at a railway station in Bangladesh / Photo: Archive/Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Not Forgetting Our Men
- Bringing in migrants from distant countries is not such a straightforward matter, cautions Natalya Golovanova, the head of the research center at the recruiting portal Superjob.ru, in a conversation with – Only practice will show how ready we are to interact with countries we are not yet accustomed to. It is unknown what additional costs will be required for such workers. At the same time, there is nothing preventing the recruitment of Indian programmers right now. They work remotely.
At present, the country is only at the beginning of the demographic pit, according to the expert. We will reach the lowest point in about ten years. As employers prefer workers aged 30 to 40, the market no longer belongs to the employer. When representatives of this generation become insufficient, employers will be forced to reorient towards people of a younger or older age who will fill the vacant positions.
As Denis Sommer, the head of the labor department of the “New Labor” trade union, explained to GORUS, the acute shortage of qualified workers is due to demographics, the needs of the military-industrial complex, and the sharply increased interest in platform employment, where people prefer to work for themselves rather than for “someone else’s uncle” (hence the number of self-employed individuals has increased to 10 million).
- In the last 30 years in Russia, the specialists needed by the real sector of the economy unfortunately diversified, – notes the expert. – Those who studied technical specialties had to work in any field – as managers, laborers. The result is a shortage of such specialists. In this situation, borrowing manual labor from abroad is entirely justified. Therefore, the labor of a foreign worker becomes important.
However, endlessly relying on an influx of manual labor from abroad may not be advisable. It requires a structural restructuring of the economy and its intensification through increased labor productivity. This would ensure that vacancies for line personnel are filled not only by individuals but also through mechanization and automation. One excavator can replace a hundred workers from Bangladesh.
By Sergey Aksyonov