Armenian Migrants in Russian Labor Market

Starting from the mid-1990s, after the actual disintegration of Soviet Union, a large outflow of population began from the former soviet republics. Armenia among the newly independent states transformed to the donor country of labor force. Over the past 25 years about 1 million 200 thousands citizens left Armenia. The main flow of migrants rushed to Russia (80%) and other countries of CIS , as well as to Europe (15%) and the United States (5%). The lion's share among all migrants is men aged 18 to 55 years. Actually this is the export of labor force, the core of which is the economically active population of the republic.

In January 2015, Armenia officially joined the Eurasian Economic Union, along with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. Within the framework of this union, as economic integration deepens, in addition to the actual movement of people across the state border, the free movement of labor force is also implied. Thus, in the process of integration, after the commodity and financial markets the labor market is gradually open too. Russia, as an receiving country, provides jobs and opens up its labor market for migrants from Armenia.

In July 2014 Armenia and Russia have signed an agreement, according to which arrivals from both countries are exempt from the obligation to register at the place of stay within 30 days.

However, despite this, customs regulations and their application in practice create numerous various obstacles. The migratory flow of labor resources is actually controlled by the provision of limited quotas for various professions, depending on the different geographical zones and cities of the Russian Federation. Thus, in general, the legally enforceable right to free movement of labor resources in practice is limited to controlling legislative flows of migrants.