Flawed immigration policies in Russia directly contribute to economic problems, said the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Industry and the first vice president of the Russian Association of Machine-Builders Vladimir Gutenev. He also said that the wrong immigration policy creates conditions that do not allow the formation of a qualified pool of personnel capable of working with upgraded equipment.
During the spring session, the State Duma will take up bills related to Russia’s immigration policy. The legislative initiative will be aimed at amending the order of the entry of foreign nationals into the Russian Federation, and the tightening of rules regarding registration and housing.
“When we talk about the global competitiveness of Russia’s innovational economy, we understand that the main factor is the quality of human capital,” Gutenev said. “Consequently, the efforts of the state and the society in all areas of the country should be directed at augmenting the human capital. Simply put, it is necessary to create conditions, in which the most capable, active, intelligent, and educated people would work for the good of Russia, and not leave in search of a better life abroad. What do we have in practice? Our immigration policy in its current state is quite the opposite: let the best minds leave and become Nobel Prize winners abroad, but let the low-skilled aliens come into the country.”
“We do not even know what the real number of immigrants present in the country is,” the lawmaker said. “According to some reports, that number is about two million people, according to other reports, it is over 10 million. Even more alarming is the increase in crime among the immigrants. The statistics of ethnic criminal activity, while somewhat contradictory, show that every second crime committed in Moscow is perpetrated by immigrants. These aliens, as recently announced by the head of the Moscow Police Anatoliy Yakunin, account for 48 percent of all crime in the region, including for more than 70 percent of all murders. In January 2013, the number of crimes committed by immigrants in St. Petersburg increased 25 percent. They are responsible for one in six murders and one in three rapes.”
According to Mr. Gutenev, the most negative impact of immigration is its effect on the labor market. “It is well known that the main engine of growth of the market economy is domestic consumption. And from this point of view, the main trend in the labor market should be the creation of jobs and wages that stimulate an increase of domestic consumption. While the people residing in Russia are spending money in the country, thereby increasing domestic consumption, the immigrants are sending the money out. The current immigration policy, in effect, creates a trend that has negative ramifications for the Russian labor market,” Gutenev said.
“A number of economic sectors, particularly construction, housing, and farming, seem to be firmly “hooked” on the cheap labor of migrant workers,” the lawmaker noted.” These immigrants are sending almost all of their earnings to their home countries, thus depressing domestic consumption in Russia. Suffice it to say that Tajikistan in 2011 ranked first in the ratio of remittances to GDP at 45 percent, according to the World Bank. Its regional neighbor Kyrgyzstan was third with remittances’ totaling 29 percent of GDP.”
“However, the appetite of the executive authorities in some Russian regions is only growing, as regional officials say they need tens of millions of migrant workers,” Mr. Gutenev said. “All this is happening against the backdrop of a slowdown in the economy, the reduction in the number of jobs for the Russian population and the growing tensions over job competition. As recent polls in the capital show, 75 percent of those surveyed admitted that they were denied work because the employer opted to hire immigrants.”
“Russia’s immigration policy has far-reaching consequences. In addressing this topic, we must not allow the subject of immigration to morph from a complex and controversial issue into a threat to civilization as we know it,” warned the Russian legislator.