Dynamics of labor migration in the Republic of Bashkortostan

The article considers some indicators of the widespread social phenomenon in Russia - labor migration, which, according to the data for 2019, involves about 2.9 million Russians, or 4% of the employed population. These are internal labor migrants who temporarily work outside their regions. This type of labor migration of Russians has common features with temporary employment in the United States, Canada, and Australia (long distance commuting - LDC), fly-in/fly-out - FIFO). The empirical basis of the article consists of the statistical data (results of the labor force survey by the Federal State Statistics Service for 2011-2019) and the results of sociological research conducted in the region with a high level of shift employment - the Republic of Bashkortostan - in 2015-2019. The statistical data prove regional differences in the Russian shift employment: the majority (72%) of internal labor migrants live in a third of the regions with high and medium levels of temporary labor migration; in some regions, the level of temporary labor migration decreases. The sociological data show different involvement in shift employment depending on place of residence, gender and age, marital status and level of education. The same social-territorial and social-demographic features are evident at the national level. At the federal level, internal labor migration, as a tool for social-economic development, helps to solve the problem of labor shortage in certain areas and sectors of economy; therefore, such labor migration is supported by legal acts. At the regional level, it decreases the labor and demographic potential of the regions that provide labor migrants. To preserve the economic and demographic potential and to strengthen the competitiveness of such regions, we need to develop regional labor markets and labor mobility within regions.

Marital Quality and Husbands’ Temporary Migration: Evidence from South Asia

This study investigated: (1) whether marital quality influences husbands’ odds of temporary migration (overall), and whether this association varies by 2) migrant destination––internal versus international (destination)––and/or by 3) dimension of marital quality––marital conflict and love for spouse (dimension). How the marital relationship—in particular, husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital conflict and love for spouse—influences the temporary labor migration of married men is unclear. Yet this understudied topic may offer an explanation for why some couples do not (or, do) send a spouse away for work even when it is economically rational. This study used data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study (CVFS), a panel study set in rural Nepal. The analytic sample consisted of all person-months between 1997 and 2008 for married men who, along with their wives, participated in the 1996 baseline interview and were living with their spouses within the sample neighborhoods (N=910; 55,815 person-months). Findings from multinomial event-history models show that husbands in “lower-quality” marriages (i.e., more conflict and less love) are significantly less likely to migrate abroad than are husbands in “higher-quality” marriages, whereas the opposite holds true for migrating internally. These effects are robust to an array of covariates, including couples’ residential circumstances. Marital quality is an over-looked yet critical factor influencing married persons’ likelihood of engaging in temporary labor migration, with important differences across specific dimensions of marital quality and migrant destinations. Results have important implications for policies targeting the well-being of migrants and their families at home.

LABOR MIGRATION IN THE FAR EAST OF RUSSIA: BEFORE AND AFTER 2020

Demographic processes and situation in the Far East of Russia have historically been determined by the dynamics of migration. As part of the influx of temporary labor migrants, the number of internal labor migrants is constantly increasing, and the number of foreign citizens working under work permits and patents is decreasing. The restrictions on the entry of foreign citizens in the spring of 2020 had a greater impact on construction and agriculture.

“It was Peugeot that brought us here!”

The objective of this article is to analyze the consequences of the political, social, and economic ruptures of Yugoslavia and France on the trajectories of Yugoslavs recruited by the Peugeot company in France after the the 1965 Franco-Yugoslav bilateral agreement on the employment of temporary labor. Using a monographic approach to the case of the employment area of Sochaux, it is clear that (post-)Yugoslav workers went through periods of upheaval and even disillusionment after their arrival in France. This study mainly deals with a generation of men born in the 1940s and 1950s and recruited by Peugeot from 1965 onwards, but also includes other members of the family and the plurality of generations. The history of Yugoslav immigration to France has rarely been the subject of research, although studying it makes it possible to analyze relations between a western country and a communist country and the consequences of the breakup of a country for emigrants living abroad. To do so, this article relies on archival sources (files on foreigners kept in the archives of prefectures, archives of associations, and the Peugeot company’s archives) and on interviews with former workers.

The Public Management of War Prisoners Within and Outside the bīt asīrī

This paper presents some reflections on the management of war prisoners in South Mesopotamia during the Old Babylonian period. In particular, it analyses data from texts in which “the house of prisoners of war,” the bīt asīrī, is mentioned. The majority of these texts date back to the reign of Rīm-Anum, who held power in Uruk for about two years during the rebellion of South Mesopotamia against Samsu-iluna of Babylon (1742‒1740 BC). This archive provides unparalleled evidence for the study of war prisoner management during the Old Babylonian period, which seems to have been exclusively administrated by the State. A specific study will be carried out on the usage of war prisoners as forced workers: in fact, many texts indicate that they were given to individuals or houses as a temporary labor force under a designated person’s authority. Nevertheless, the prisoners remained under the superior authority of the bīt asīrī, where they returned after they had finished working, without being included in the slave trade. The paper also analyses the way in which the prisoners’ geographic provenance affected the treatment they received and, finally, the release of prisoners upon payment of a ransom or following a royal action.