LABOR MIGRANT REMITTANCES AND THEIR ROLE IN THE MIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS OF CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES
Abstract
Contemporary labor migration in the region’s countries is being increasingly influenced by global trends: it is becoming more di-versified with an increasing shift toward developed Western countries; it is becoming incorporated into the world labor markets; its secondary markets are forming in the host countries with the help of unofficial migrant networks; and it is acquiring other universal features. One of these global trends is the increase in labor mi-grant remittances and their more prominent role in raising the standard of living in migrant households. The study of remittances and their significance in the life of migrant households and communities is being actively carried out abroad. For example, the global reports and other documents put out by international organizations (the IOM, ILO, World Bank, and others) in recent years have sections which emphasize the role of migrant remittances in national economies.
In recent years, the role of labor migration and migrant earnings has also been analyzed in several CIS countries, but representative comparative studies on this subject have not been con-ducted yet in the Central Asian republics. This is primarily explained by the fact that international labor migration is a new phenomenon, is unregulated, and is not properly registered. No one even knows precisely how many illegally employed workers there are, this number is currently defined on the basis of sociological methods or an incremental assessment of official statistics. Weak interstate cooperation, including in the scientific sphere, is the main stumbling block to carrying out this kind of interstate project.
As isolated studies show, in migrant households, remittances are primarily used for purchasing consumer goods. Since labor migration flows in the Central Asian countries are swelling and the amounts of remittances are growing, the use of remittances for development, and consumption, is becoming all the more pertinent.
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References
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Ibid., p. 269.
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