‘Today, Sverdlovsk Region needs 40,000 migrant workers,’ Director of Sverdlovsk Region Migration Center Mikhail Bochkarev announced at today’s press conference.

‘50% of them are now working in the field of wholesale and retail trade and about 30% are involved in building industry. Yet the region also needs skilled workers and specialists from the NIS, including doctors and drivers. Most of the migrant workers from the NIS speak good Russian, which is definitely an advantageous employment factor,’ Mr Bochkarev said.

‘We have to settle the migrant worker issue with the countries’ governments, first of all, to create the application exchange system: the region reports its demands for a particular profession to the country and selects the candidates who come in the needed number and are provided with a job and a place to live.’