Objective of the project:
- A comprehensive in-depth study of labor migrants as a valuable “source of export” of labor to the EAEU, in particular to Russia and Kazakhstan.
- Identification of the potential of returning migrants for the economy of Kyrgyzstan, their social, economic and political significance.
- Identification of factors of successful reintegration of labor migrants in Kyrgyzstan after returning.
Duration: September – December 2017
Partners: GIZ
Results Achieved:
The objects of the study were labor migrants, citizens of Kyrgyzstan, who have been working in Russia and Kazakhstan for no more than 3 years. The study did not include migrants who did not have work at the time of the survey. Another target audience for the study was labor migrants who returned to Kyrgyzstan over the past 3 years. The choice of the above period is related to the terms of finding a new job or opening a business in Kyrgyzstan, as well as the period during which the migrant remembers and can indicate the details of his stay in the country of labor migration.
The following methods were used in the study:
- Quoting the total sample by gender, age and employment sectors
- Using respondent search using the Snowball method
- Conducting a personal interview using the questionnaire – 700 people
- In-depth personal interviews of respondents
- Desk study, involving the study of available documents on the research topic (EAEU regulatory documents governing labor migration, reports of similar studies, official statistics and other available sources)
According to the migration service of the Kyrgyz Republic, every fourth household or 26% of families has at least one labor migrant. The annual migration outflow was at the level of approximately 50 thousand people. According to expert estimates, from 650 to 750 thousand citizens work outside the Kyrgyz Republic. Mostly or 47% are young people aged 18 to 29 years.
The largest number of Kyrgyz work in the Russian Federation. According to the FMS of the Russian Federation, their number by the end of 2016 amounted to 570 thousand people, which is almost 30 thousand less than in 2015. According to the State Migration Service of the Kyrgyz Republic, 130 thousand citizens of Kyrgyzstan stay in the Republic of Kazakhstan, 14 thousand in Turkey, and up to 30 thousand in other countries of the far abroad. A significant part of our compatriots (over 95%) who work abroad are working on the territory of the EAEU member states.