The Migration-Related Risks and Balanced Labour Market Development in the Border Regions of Russia’s Central and Northwestern Federal Districts

Abstract

International labour migration (ILM) has a significant impact on the labour market development in the country of destination. This study aims at analysing the effect of ILM on the stability of labour markets in the Central (CFD) and Northwestern (NWFD) Federal Districts of Russia in terms of the markets’ ability to resist possible economic risks and threats. I present a unique methodology for the index evaluation of a labour market’s exposure to the basic economic migration risks and threats. This method includes an assessment of the indicators of revealed risks and threats, based on 13 criteria. The method was tested in the regions of the CFD and NWFD, which were subsequently classified into several types and clusters according to the degree of their labour markets’ vulnerability to economic migration risks and threats. The applied method made it possible to identify the major effects of ILM on the labour markets. The border regions occupy a special place in the suggested typology, as they are characterised by a unique ability to attract and “absorb” foreign workers by integrating them into the regional labour markets. My analysis has shown that the border position of Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad and the Nenets Autonomous regions reinforces the negative effect of ILM. These regions show a heavy demand for foreign workers. In Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad regions, foreign workers are in great demand in construction, commerce, agriculture, manufacturing, and transport. In the Nenets autonomous regions, they are sought after in the mineral extraction industry. Other hallmarks of these regions are the increased labour market sensitivity to the risks of segmentation (by qualification, remuneration, profession, and industry) as a result of ILM and the emerging dependence on foreign individual entrepreneurship.