Work-Related Pull Factors and Mechanisms for Attracting Internal Migrants to the Kaliningrad Region

Abstract

Introduction. The importance of economic security issues for migration-attractive regions, especially the exclave Kaliningrad region, is growing. Increasing migration gain from Russia’s regions both brings obvious benefits and poses additional challenges. These include those related to the influx of workers whose professional qualifications do not suit the needs of the regional labour market. Thus, the article aims to analyze the compliance of the mechanisms for regulating internal migration with the work-related pull factors to ensure the Kaliningrad region’s economic security. Materials and Methods. The study relies on Kaliningradstat’s regional migration data for 2014–2021 and the interviews with representatives of various sectors of the regional economy, including migrants, conducted by the authors in the summer of 2022. The paper provides systematized and structured results of the content analysis of various sources on the implementation of labour policy and, in particular, the policy of attracting workforce (information and reference portals and websites of international, national and regional institutions, official statistical data by IOM and Rosstat). Results. Drawing on the example of the Kaliningrad region, the study considers several understaffed fields of occupation, including medicine, research and education, ICT, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Based on international and Russian research it analyses work-related mobility factors for each of them. It also classifies the practice of using external and internal migration selection mechanisms. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the survey of migrants and employers in the Kaliningrad region, the study develops and discusses a list of pull factors and mechanisms for each considered workforce group that can be used to design policies for attracting workforce to the Kaliningrad region. The study results can be used in Russian regions willing to attract in-demand specialists.

Keywords

• economic security
• internal migration
• selective migration policy
• pull factors
• selective migration mechanisms
• exclave
• kaliningrad region