Labour migration from Tajikistan

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DUSHANBE - Money transfers by Tajik migrant workers will total about $3 billion [USD] this year, up $1 billion from last year, said Zubaidullo Sultonov, the Head of the Finance and Credit Department at the Russian-Tajik Slavic University, at an international conference, “The Role of Population Migration in the Development of Society," held November 27-28 in Dushanbe.

Official figures indicate that about 500,000 Tajiks work abroad. The exact number of migrant workers has not been determined, however, and unofficial figures suggest there could be as many as 1 million working outside the country. Most Tajik migrant workers go to Russia and Kazakhstan to find work under formal agreements with those countries. The quota for Tajik citizens working in Russia is 800,000.

Vladimir Iontsev, the Head of the Human Population Department at Moscow State University, said that Russia needs foreign migrant labour and its termination would hurt the economy, particularly the construction sector. About 45 percent of Tajik migrants work on construction sites in Russia.

Head of the Labour and Social Welfare Department in the Presidential Executive Office Alisher Yarboboyev said the Tajik government is taking steps to find jobs for the population at home where about 100,000 jobs are created each year. But that is not enough.

Sultonov said the incomes of migrant workers should not be used for consumption but for business development that would create jobs and provide additional tax revenue to the national treasury.