Putin Sticks to ‘Russia First’ Even as Workforce Shrinks
Immigrants are the country’s best hope of replenishing the labor pool, but foreign workers face mounting obstacles.
Outside Moscow’s Multifunctional Migration Center on Dec. 6, 2019.
Photographer: Artyom Geodakyan/TASS/Zuma Press
Vladimir Putin is taking a page from Donald Trump’s tough-on-immigration playbook. That’s bad for people like Umed and the millions of migrants from other former Soviet republics who have flocked to Russia in search of work. The 29-year-old Tajikistan native, who declined to give his full name, had been working as a delivery driver in Russia when he was deported in 2015. “They don’t want Muslims to live in the country,” says Umed, who now resides in Kazakhstan.
Immigrants are Russia’s best hope to replenish a 75-million-strong workforce that’s shrinking by 800,000 people a year. Yet their numbers are barely growing as Putin’s government has tightened regulations, largely in an attempt to curb the influx from Central Asia. This is a major headache for Russian companies, many of which are struggling to fill jobs even though the economy is stagnant.