OVERLOOKED CONSIDERATIONS OF HUMAN MOBILITY: A CASE STUDY OF LABOR MIGRATION BETWEEN TAJIKISTAN AND RUSSIA

Abstract

Economic circumstances often consume discourse on labor migration, while neglecting intermediate factors. Scholarship on human mobility often attributes labor migration solely to financial circumstances, ignoring other determinants of population movement. This paper strives to illuminate the role of additional elements in labor mobility by examining migration flows between Tajikistan and Russia. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has transformed into an economic necessity for Tajiks as individuals seek to move north to improve their financial standing. Although numbers illustrate the drastic nature of Tajik labor migration, they do not expose the specific determinants of population movement. However, this examination explores several under-studied factors that reveal labor mobility by synthesizing numerous forms of primary and secondary qualitative literature. The paper highlights the complex decisionmaking process of migrants by analyzing the implications of the individuals’ level of Russian, obtaining citizenship, role and knowledge of entry barriers, and inadequate business connections that translate into flows between Tajikistan and Russia. Through the case study, the research depicts the hardships migrants across the world endure that force them to serve as the “ball” in this transnational game of tennis.