The Russian government has amended the Ministry of Industry and Trade project to attract workers from Uzbekistan as part of the organizational recruitment, trying to overcome the shortage of personnel, which has intensified due to mobilization. Firstly, restrictions on the number of workers are being lifted (previously, the upper bar was 11,000 people). Secondly, Uzbek workers will be hired not only in construction and agriculture but also in consumer industries. Thirdly, the medical requirements for those entering the country are being reduced: it will be enough to undergo a medical examination by Russian doctors in Uzbekistan, which will be paid for by employers.
According to Kommersant, the project changes confirm the acute shortage of personnel in consumer industries: it reaches 70%, while in general the shortage of personnel in industry in October is from 30%. It remains unclear to what extent the project will be able to interest the migrants themselves. On the one hand, workers from Uzbekistan do not need to apply for visas and they actively participate in the Russian labor market: 49.6% of foreign workers in the Russian Federation are citizens of Uzbekistan (TASS data). On the other hand, organizational recruitment is less attractive than self-employment, since it “enslaves” the employee, depriving him of the opportunity to change an unsuccessful job. In addition, because of the war, the Russian Federation ceases to be an attractive destination for labor migration. This is evidenced by the data of Rosstat, which for the first time in many years recorded an outflow of foreign workers, including citizens of Uzbekistan (in the first 8 months, the number of Uzbeks in Russia decreased by 13,671 people).