Official: Russia to cut labor migration in some regions

MOSCOW, Nov 21 (PRIME) -- Russia plans to cut labor migration, or the number of foreign employees, in regions that have problems on the labor market, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets told reporters on Monday.

“Exploitation of migrant labor has an obvious impact on our market, it leads to labor becoming cheaper in general, leads to capital being withdrawn from the Russian Federation, as the income that migrants receive is usually spent by migrants in the country where they come from,” she said.

She added that migrants also use healthcare and education services, adding to the social burden of the budget.

“When we look at all pros and cons, we see that the social burden that we receive in the end does not correlate with the contribution to the economy we have today,” she said.

“That is why a gradual layoff (of foreign employees) – especially in the regions with problems on the labor market – is our policy, and we will come to it anyway.”

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