Regulation of migration processes as a precondition for greater social and economic security of the region (106)

Theme Track: Migration and Demographics - Migration Flows

Authors:
Tsoberg, Olga ; Fisenko, Natalja

Many social and economic processes taking place in the present-day Russian economy, migration of the population including, do not have any strict regulation framework yet. Taking into account the considerable economic significance of the processes causing changes on the labor market, it is extremely important to identify the trends and attempt to create such a mechanism that could be applied to put the processes affecting the migration mobility of the population into order. Migration processes in Russia are specific in that the mass migration was a result of the break-up of the Soviet space, while Russia -the successor of the USSR- did not have appropriate means, programs or institutions to pursue an efficient migration policy at the time. One of the negative consequences of migration in the employment sphere is the worsening of the professional and qualification structure of the Russian society, the 'brain drain'. In the social life the results of migration manifest themselves in greater criminality arising from the conflicts between the local and ethnic groups in the regions.The Saratov Oblast is one of the biggest recipient regions. The number of migrants of all categories increased 200 thousand people during the last decade. 53 thousand applications for the status of an involuntary migrant have been submitted to the territorial migration service (TMS), 80% of the applicants were Russians. On the one hand, it is considered that migration and subsequent adaptation of the migrants produce positive effects on the quantitative composition of the population of the region. Between 1992 and 2000 the number of rural dwellers of the Saratov Oblast grew 5,6% to make 728,9 thousand people. However, our research shows that those changes in the number of indigenous rural population of the region were much influenced by the systematic fall of the birthrate. From this point of view, in the situation when mortality among the basic categories of the local population exceeds the birthrate, and the share of elderly and senile people gets bigger, migration is, no doubt, a positive process ensuring inflow of able-bodied people, making the various sectors of the economy develop more dynamically. On the other hand, the native population complains about the migrants laying claims on the labor market. To our opinion, the local Law -On Land- can be much instrumental in solving the migration problems in the Saratov Oblast, as it provides for the renting out of land plots to the migrants, which in turn can both improve the employment situation in the region and ensure additional food security. The paper proves the necessity to establish an administrative structure (on the oblast (krai) and rayon levels) to coordinate the settlement, migration, national, land and employment policies with the aim to prevent ethnic and social conflicts in the time when real land ownership will be established along with the local grounds for agricultural activities.

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