DUSHANBE, April 4, 2014, Asia-Plus – A conference to discuss economic consequences of the manpower migration for Tajikistan took place in Dushanbe on April 4.
Speaking at the conference, Mr. Stefan Erber, Country Director, GIZ (the German Agency for International Cooperation) Office Tajikistan noted that taking into account a significant labor migration flow out of Tajikistan – some 1.5 million people – it was necessary to take measures to maintain sustainable economic growth under conditions of intensive labor migration.
It is necessary to turn remittances into something more useful and use them for investment so that they would serve the country’s economy, he noted.
“Since Tajikistan is still following the path of transition economy, labor migrants are still a critical component in its economy but labor migration is not panacea for other social problems existing in the country,” Khudoberdi Kholiqnazar, Director of the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Tajikistan, said.
The government will take efforts to create new jobs and provide decent life for our citizens in Tajikistan, the head of Tajik think tank noted.
In Tajikistan, the annual population growth rate is reportedly more than 2.0 percent and as of January 1, 2014, Tajikistan population was estimated at 8.16 million people.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Saidrahmon Nazriyev, noted that current average monthly wage in Tajikistan amounted to 814.00 somoni.
“Last year, 204,000 new jobs were created in the country, but only 40.5 percent of them were permanent jobs while the remaining 59.4 percent were temporary jobs,” said the deputy minister. “Labor migration has become a global phenomenon and we cannot curb it.”
According to the statistical data from the Migration Service at the Ministry of Labor, Migration and employment of the Population, 799,000 people migrated out of Tajikistan last year seeking better employment opportunities, which was 49,000 people more than in 2012.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Federal Migration Service (FMS) says that the number of Tajik nationals currently staying in Russia exceeds one million people.
