Izvestia: “Number of migrant workers to be cut by 700,000”
Vladimir Putin and trade unions come together to change the situation in the labour market.
The quota for inviting migrant workers to Russia in 2010 has been cut from 2 million to just 1.3 million people, Mikhail Shmakov, head of Russia's Federation of Independent Trade Unions, said yesterday after a meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Prime Minister said that Russians are not eager to take up the jobs currently done by migrants.
Mr. Putin cited data provided by employers, who claim that "Russians, even if they temporarily lose their jobs, are often reluctant to take the jobs that are eagerly accepted by foreign workers." "Russians just refuse to do those jobs," the Prime Minister said.
However, Mr. Shmakov said that everything depends on pay, and the Prime Minister agreed that really "everything depends on the cost of labour."
The government has seriously cut the foreign workers quota, the trade union leader said, but he added that "the quota could be increased during the year in case of changes in the employment market." In his opinion, the quota had to be changed "because the labour market will emerge from the crisis later than the economy as a whole."
Mr. Putin recalled that the government had cut the foreign workers quota in 2009 by 50% compared to 2008, adding that the situation is complicated by the fact that CIS citizens can enter Russia visa-free.
"Therefore, it is very difficult to determine who has come to visit relatives, who has come for humanitarian reasons, and who is looking for employment in Russia," the Prime Minister said. But in general, "the system has been streamlined," he concluded.
Mr. Putin also thanked the trade unions for working jointly with the government and employers throughout the year.
"It has been a very challenging year that has brought about layoffs of a considerable number of people," he said. But "trade unions, the government, and employers prepared recovery programmes together. I think such teamwork had the most positive effect one could expect in this situation."
According to Mr. Shmakov, "during the very challenging times at the beginning of this year, when the crisis was developing and unemployment was at its peak, the monitoring measures we proposed and implemented within the framework of the Russian tripartite commission produced very good results in the most critical areas."
"And now we suggest continuing these programmes," the trade union leader added.
"Unfortunately, the forecast for the labour market in 2010 is not positive. Despite certain positive trends in the financial market and somewhat revitalised industrial production, growth in employment will fall behind economic growth," Mr Shmakov said.
By Vadim Tanin
