Labor migration in Russia: Adaptation to labor market transformations

The article analyzes the processes of adaptation of migrant workers to the transformations of the Russian labor market in 2010-2023. Two periods are distinguished: smooth changes in the labor market in the process of structural changes in the economy (2010-2019) and shock crises in 2020-2023. Special attention is paid to the latter period, when foreign workers were forced to adapt to extraordinary changes in the labor market due to the pandemic, as well as foreign and domestic political events after February 2022. In the 2010s, migrant workers gradually adapted to the transformations of the Russian labor market associated with changes in the structure of economic activities and in-demand occupations. A significant role was played by the reforms of migration legislation in 2013-2016, which simplified the procedures for their access to the Russian labor market, the restructuring of relations with employers, and a certain mutual understanding between migrants and the host population. The adaptive abilities of migrant workers were particularly evident during the extraordinary shocks in the labor market in the 2020s. Migrants from Central Asian states, taking advantage of the withdrawal from the market of competitors from other post-S oviet states, which they did not intend to leave, quickly returned to the labor market after the first wave of the pandemic, mastering new employment niches. Diversification of economic activities, narrowing of the wage gap with Russian citizens, reduction of illegal labor activities and informal employment are the most visible results of migrant workers' adaptation to changes in the labor market. Serious problems of the Russian labor market that do not contribute to the adaptation of migrant workers to it remain its segmentation with associated overqualification, underutilization of human capital, and the state's desire to routinize control and supervision over employers and foreign citizens. The article is based on sociological surveys of migrant workers and employers conducted in 2011-2023.