Almost half (47%) of the survey participants of the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM) consider labor migration a positive phenomenon for Russia. Since 2008, this indicator has tripled, reports RBC.
The survey was conducted by telephone interview in early August. 1.6 thousand Russians aged 18 and over took part in it. The margin of error with a probability of 95% does not exceed 2.5%, thinned in VTsIOM.
"Almost every second Russian is convinced that labor migration is a positive phenomenon for our country (47%), this year's indicator is several times higher than previous measurements (2006 – 21%, 2008 – 14%, 2013 – 14%). The opposite opinion is held today by 40%, which is almost two times less than ten years ago (2013 – 74%)," the report says.
Differences in the answers to this question are found between "children and fathers" and "rich and poor". Young people are more likely to see advantages in labor migration (61% among 18-24-year-olds and 56% in the 25-34 group), and Russians 45-59 years old are more likely to note negative sides (51%).
Citizens with good incomes are more loyal to labor migrants (61%; 28% among the "poor"), while Russians with poor financial situation are more likely to talk about labor migration in a negative way (56%; 29% among the "rich").
At the same time, 39% of respondents believe that relations between representatives of different nationalities have become more tense in recent years, this indicator has decreased in ten years from 57%. Another 38% believe that everything is stable in the sphere of interethnic relations, there are no changes for the better or for the worse.
The population of Russia has been declining since 2018, in 2022 it fell by 533 thousand people and as of January 1, 2023 amounted to 146.45 million people, Rosstat reported.
The migration growth of Russian population decreased significantly last year, amounting to 61.9 thousand people, or 0.4 per thousand people of the permanent population (in 2021 there were almost 430 thousand people of migration growth). The figure for 2022 was adjusted by the statistical service taking into account the results of the Russian Population Census-2020.
The migration increase in 2022 compensated for the natural decline of the population (minus 594.6 thousand people) by only 10.4%, wrote Ekaterina Shcherbakova, senior researcher at the Institute of Demography in HSE.
In May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed to introduce a new institute of administrative supervision over the stay of foreigners in Russia, abolishing the state control in this area. If the draft law is adopted, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be able to come to legal entities using migrant labor, on the inspections of which a moratorium was previously established.
The purpose of the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is to make timely identification of foreigners who do not have or have lost legal grounds for staying/residing on the territory of Russia and conducting certain types of activities in the country, as well as the application of legal measures of influence to them and other persons who have committed violations in accordance with the requirements of legislation.
Recall that in recent years, raids on the detention of Tajik migrants have become more frequent in Russia.
The Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment of Tajikistan explained the recent arrests, harassment and pressure on Tajik labor migrants for several months by the special operation "Illegal"
Experts also note that Russia's actions against migrant workers can be used to put pressure on Central Asian countries, including Tajikistan.
