Employers and Foreign Migrants in the Labor Markets of Major Russian Cities: Interactions in a New Economic Reality

Abstract

Materials of focus groups with employers who hire foreigners, in-depth interviews with labor migrants, and expert interviews with decision-makers, as well as statistical data, serve as groundwork for investigating the new migrant labor practices that have arisen from the radical restructuring of the migration legislation since early 2015 and those that remain since the economic crisis of 2008–2009 (the latter prevail). The conclusion has been drawn that employers are generally not ready to refrain from hiring labor migrants, despite the increased costs of migrant labor.