DUSHANBE, April 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — Firouz Saidov, an official with the Center for Strategic Studies, told reporters on April 15 that some 90 percent of Tajik labor migrants will continue to travel the Russia Federation despite effects of the global financial crisis.
“Some Western and Russian media have reported that the global financial crisis will significantly affect the labor migration processes that may lead to social unrest and government’s collapse in Tajikistan,” said Saidov, “While according to our data, 90-95 percent of Tajik labor migrants are now in Russia and major part of labor migrants that returned home have already traveled to Russia and found jobs.”
According to him, the other question is how the crisis will affect labor migrants’ remittances. “According to estimates of specialists from the Center for Strategic Studies and other organizations, the financial crisis may result in labor migrants’ remittances decreasing by some 50 percent and this will affect purchase power of the population, banking system, budget, and trade to a certain extent,” the expert said.
On the problems of labor migration, Saidov said that one of the most important problems was low professional skills and low education level of Tajik labor migrants.
