The Government of Tajikistan plans to allocate 7,500 employment quotas to foreign workers his year, according to the official website of the Migration Service at the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of the Population of Tajikistan (MoLMEP).
The first deputy head of the Migration Service, Imomnazar Imomzoda, notes that a draft president’s decree on establishing 7,500 external migration quotas and attracting foreign workforce to Tajikistan in 2022 has been developed.
This document is reportedly aimed at strengthening the legal foundation for government regulation of foreign labor migration inside the country, strengthening protection of interests of the country as well as rights and freedoms of migrant workers – nationals of Tajikistan – outside the country.
Every year, the government of Tajikistan allocates several thousand employment quotas to foreign nationals. Thousands of foreign citizens work in various investment projects being implemented in Tajikistan in accordance with interstate agreements.
Thus, specialists from China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Uzbekistan and some other countries worked in Tajikistan last year under employment quotas; more than half of the employment quotas (4,900) have been allocated to nationals of China.
The mentioned decree also provides for attracting a certain number of foreign specialists for participation in implementation of industrial and infrastructure development projects in the country outside the employment quota.
Meanwhile, the population of Tajikistan of above 9 million is dominated by the younger age groups: more than half of population is under age of 25. This is a great potential for development of the country. However, the young population is continuously pressing the labor market for new jobs, resulting in a very large number of those looking for work remaining unemployed.
Many Tajik seasonal workers travel abroad each year, primarily to Russia, seeking better employment opportunities. Between January and September 2021, Russia’s Interior Ministry reportedly registered 2,025,712 Tajik citizens entering the country – 1.6 million of them, or about one-quarter of Tajikistan’s working-age population, with work as their official purpose.
Tajikistan is one of the world’s most remittance dependent countries and labor migrants are still a critical component in the economy of Tajikistan. Remittances keep many struggling families at home above the poverty line.
