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Uzbekistan’s financial system is considerably reliant on labor migration, given its massive inhabitants and tight home labor market. Yearly, round 650,000 Uzbeks graduate from normal secondary or secondary particular, vocational establishments. Solely a couple of quarter of them proceed their research at universities, whereas others enter the workforce. The Uzbek financial system can’t help this many new staff yearly. Reportedly, solely about 300,000 new jobs are created yearly. The official poverty price hovers at round 11 % whereas the official unemployment price is 6.8 %.
Unsurprisingly, many search jobs overseas, particularly these from rural areas. The remittances despatched by migrants help their household, assuaging the poverty price nationwide. In 2022 alone, labor migrants despatched $13.5 billion to Uzbekistan, putting the nation at fifteenth globally when it comes to receiving remittances. Remittances in 2022 had been equal to 17 % of the nation’s GDP.
Nonetheless, lately, the dynamics of labor migration from Uzbekistan have been altering. The entire variety of labor migrants, for instance, declined from a mean of 3-4 million yearly through the early 2000s to 2-3 million a 12 months by 2023. The precise quantity is difficult to report because of the seasonal nature of labor migration. Within the first quarter of 2022, for instance, 2.3 million residents had been working overseas.
Labor migration patterns have been impacted by each inside and exterior developments. Contained in the nation, the formal angle towards labor migrants modified with the ruling regime in 2016.
In an notorious rant in 2013, then-President Islam Karimov was recorded calling labor migrants “lazy.”
“Who do I name ‘lazy’ — those that go to Moscow and sweep streets and squares,” he yapped. “One will get disgusted that individuals from the Uzbek nation go there simply to earn bread. Nobody is ravenous in Uzbekistan… [They] go there to rapidly earn some huge cash, however deliver disgrace upon us all.”
Not like his predecessor, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev doesn’t characterize labor migration as shameful, as an alternative recognizing the worth it brings.
Mirziyoyev’s administration understands that individuals select labor migration due to home shortcomings in job provision and low salaries. The federal government additionally realizes that the remittances from labor migration help the nationwide financial system. So, as an alternative of criticizing the employees, the Mirziyoyev administration has been aiding them.
In 2018, the Company for International Labor Migration was established beneath the Ministry of Employment to help residents working overseas, shield their rights and pursuits, and facilitate the reintegration of returning migrant employees. The 2020 presidential decree “On measures to introduce a system of protected, orderly and authorized labor migration,” amongst others, envisioned low-interest price loans for migrating residents from poor backgrounds to cowl journey bills and procure work permits overseas. It additionally emphasised worldwide cooperation in international labor migration and bettering relations with compatriot organizations overseas and Uzbek diasporas. This 12 months alone, for instance, Uzbek diplomats met with diaspora communities and labor migrants in Japan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and no less than 5 cities in Russia, assessing the working situations.
One other main change is noticed within the vacation spot nations. Though Russia, Kazakhstan, and Turkey stay main locations for many Uzbek labor migrants, as these nations enable for visa-free journey for Uzbekistanis, many are exploring different, developed nations too. In Lithuania, for instance, in early 2023, the variety of Uzbek labor migrants stood at simply 1,800. By March 2024, this quantity reached virtually 10,000.
Right here, Tashkent’s intervening position is notable – it has actively been holding negotiations with international nations, particularly developed ones, and international firms, to get Uzbek employees employed. Uzbekistan has signed agreements with virtually 300 recruiting companies from 28 nations. In March, as an illustration, the Company for International Labor Migration held official negotiations with Hungary’s Worknet Kft. firm to facilitate recruitment of round 100 employees.
Whereas up to now, solely 0.15 % of residents would choose to journey for work overseas by way of official channels, in 2022, this indicator stood at 8-9 %. Over the previous two years, the Company for International Labor Migration reportedly despatched 70,000 residents to developed nations to work.
To this finish, the Company for International Labor Migration runs a Xorijda Ish (Jobs Overseas) digital platform that facilitates Uzbek migrants touchdown a job in international nations equivalent to Belarus, the UK, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia. At present, there are over 50,000 vacant jobs for Uzbek employees and over 2 million registered customers.
One downside is that not everyone seems to be certified to work the roles listed, partly due to language limitations and partly as a result of they lack the skill-sets in demand. Tashkent has organized low-cost, brief language programs and vocational programs to handle these points. One can examine German, English, Russian, Korean, Arabic, and different languages, paying merely a symbolic value – $10-25. The common size of language programs is 12 weeks and people can be found nationwide. Vocational programs are a bit extra dear, however there are free programs too.
Following the Crocus Metropolis Corridor terrorist assault and subsequent wave of xenophobia and discrimination towards Central Asian labor migrants in Russia, Tashkent has labored to make certain its residents are correctly supported, at dwelling or overseas.
On April 4, Mirziyoyev signed a decree aiming to incentivize native employers to rent returning labor migrants. Accordingly, any employer who hires a returning labor migrant from June 2024 to January 2026 will obtain a 500,000 Uzbek som ($40) month-to-month subsidy for a 12 months. The decree specifies a former labor migrant as a person who has labored overseas for no less than three months and has returned to their place of residence throughout the previous 12 months, excluding those that returned earlier than June 2023. Tashkent additionally plans to launch a round the clock call-center to help labor migrants by September with toll-free calls from overseas.
The decree additionally retains partial monetary help for labor migrants from a earlier presidential decree in 2021. Accordingly, those that have registered by way of the “Xorijda ish” on-line system, and who’re touring overseas by way of organized labor migration, will obtain partial funding for acquiring a language certificates or occupational abilities certificates that permits them to work overseas. Monetary assist will even be offered to partially cowl work visas and journey tickets. Staff who face discrimination, violence, or compelled labor will probably be entitled to authorized providers.
So as to present higher help for Uzbek labor migrants overseas, Tashkent introduced that it could designate one extra attaché place for labor migration points on the diplomatic and consular establishments of Uzbekistan in key labor migrant locations – the U.Okay., UAE, Hungary, Germany, Latvia, Poland, and Japan.
There was a visual shift in Uzbek migrant labor patterns, evidenced by the quantity and supply of remittances. In 2023, remittances from Russia decreased by 39 %. This was partly because of the devaluation of the Russian ruble. Nonetheless, remittances from different nations reportedly elevated by 15 %. Whereas many who go to Russia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan for low-paying, guide jobs face fixed discrimination and, normally, really feel unsafe, those that migrate by way of official channels and through official packages have higher probabilities. Other than guide work, many vacancies in developed nations embody medical, engineering, resort service, and different jobs, with fastened 8-hour working days and much better cost.
Nonetheless, Russia stays a main vacation spot – 70-87 % of Uzbek labor migrants go to Russia. There are nonetheless lots of of 1000’s of unskilled, unemployed, or underemployed residents for whom guide jobs in Russia or Kazakhstan are the one resolution. The Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis experiences that the majority labor migrants from Uzbekistan (72 %) haven’t any college or faculty diploma – 43 % have normal secondary schooling and one other 29 % have incomplete secondary schooling.
Not everybody can afford to undergo the 12-24 weeks of language and vocational coaching essential to land higher-paying jobs in developed nations, however offering these alternatives is an efficient begin from Tashkent.
However there’s extra Uzbekistan can do. Whereas what Tashkent has been doing seems to be good within the information, and it has helped 1000’s, labor migration shouldn’t be the answer to Uzbekistan’s financial issues. Whatever the vacation spot nation, whether or not it’s a developed or undeveloped nation, whether or not it’s a good paying or a low-paying job, labor migrants by default are away from their dwelling and from their households for months, if not years. Kids develop up with out a mother or father, girls keep at dwelling with out a husband, and fogeys develop outdated lacking their kids who’re engaged in labor migration. All these crack the household establishment, which the Uzbek nation holds as its highest worth.
The creator thanks the TalTech Regulation Faculty at Tallinn College of Expertise for offering the chance to take part as a fellow in Caucasus and Central Asia Analysis Social Innovation: Growth Help, Innovation and Societal Transformation venture that allowed her to work on this piece.
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