Uzbekistan, as the largest exporter of labor force in the CIS, stands for the development of cooperation between the Commonwealth countries in the field of labor migration and the introduction of organized recruitment mechanisms. This was stated in an interview with TASS, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the organization, by the Deputy Minister of Employment and Labor Relations of the republic, Bakhodir Umurzakov.
“According to various sources, about 2 million people, or almost 20% of the working population of the republic, are constantly working outside Uzbekistan, whose population is 35 million,” Umurzakov said, stressing that 80% of them work in Russia. Other countries where Uzbeks most often go to work are Kazakhstan, Korea and the United States.
The Deputy Minister explained that Tashkent is in favor of the early introduction of mechanisms for an organized recruitment of labor migrants and the development of digital platforms to optimize the registration of their employment in the Commonwealth countries.
According to Umurzakov, the Ministry of Labor believes that labor migration in the foreseeable future will be the most important export sphere of the republic.
“About 300 thousand new jobs are created annually in Uzbekistan, and secondary schools and institutions of secondary specialized education, due to high demographic growth, graduate 700-750 thousand boys and girls every year, about 150 thousand of them go to universities. It is easy to calculate how many people start looking for work, and many of them find it abroad,” he explained.
The deputy minister noted that “the export of labor resources” is a very important factor in the growth of the republic’s economy. According to the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, this year the volume of remittances of individuals from Russia has grown significantly and in the first half of the year alone exceeded $6 billion. According to experts, this exceeds the republic’s income from the sale of gold.
According to Umurzakov, it is also important that practically all those working abroad, and above all in Russia, citizens of the republic significantly improve their qualifications and improve their knowledge of the Russian language. Upon returning home, many become entrepreneurs and create jobs in their home country. At the same time, their business often turns out to be connected with the Russian market and partners in the Russian Federation.
This explains the attention that the republic’s authorities pay to creating conditions for the development of labor migration. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev welcomed the statement adopted at the CIS summit on the development of cooperation in this area. He noted that the next stage should be joint steps to improve the labor market.
In September, Tashkent and Moscow launched a pilot project that will optimize the process of attracting labor migrants to Russia. A Russian delegation of representatives of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Health, the Federal Service for Labor and Employment (Rostrud), the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Moscow administration visited Tashkent, where an agreement was concluded according to which 10 thousand people could come to Russia from Uzbekistan.
Those who wish will be selected by Russian departments and companies on the territory of Uzbekistan. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Health will check whether the candidate has a ban on entry and contraindications for health, then representatives of the customer companies will find out whether he has the required specialty.
At the last stage, the potential employee will have to be vaccinated against the coronavirus with the Sputnik Light single-component vaccine, which is a prerequisite for participating in the project. A labor patent will be issued in Russia.
In total, according to the latest data, this year about 100 thousand Uzbeks left for work in different regions of Russia within the framework of organized recruitment.
