Experts revealed the pros and cons of hiring guest workers from the Black Continent
In the first half of the year, domestic companies significantly increased their search for employees in Africa. Judging by data from Russian recruiting agencies, the search for personnel for the domestic labor market on the Black Continent is now almost more active than in the neighboring Asian republics of the former USSR. Will the “African Legion” of labor migrants help cope with the personnel shortage that 80% of Russian companies report?
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Due to the lack of workers, Russian companies began to look for personnel in African countries. This conclusion can be drawn from the data provided by RBC. The number of vacancies from Russian companies in Kenya increased 39 times (from 161 vacancies in the first half of 2023 to 6.4 thousand vacancies in the same period of 2024), in Zimbabwe — 15 times (up to 165), in Cameroon — nine times (up to 130), in Zambia — eight times (up to 224). In addition, a sharp increase in the number of vacancies was recorded in Algeria (seven times, up to 1.7 thousand). In the Central African Republic, vacancies from representatives of domestic businesses appeared for the first time in 2024. And we are not talking about janitors and cleaners at all. Most often, domestic companies attract sales managers and IT personnel from Africa.
Analytical centers in the field note that the number of African specialists coming to Russia is growing every year, and the range of positions they occupy is very wide: some actually work in construction, logistics or warehouses, and there are examples of people who have made a brilliant career thanks to their studies and work in Russia. In this regard, they often recall Timothy Musa Kabba, a graduate of the Mining University in St. Petersburg, who worked as a geologist for almost ten years in Russian oil and gas companies and now holds the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sierra Leone.
As noted by Lyudmila Ivanova-Shvets, Associate Professor of the Department of Human Resources Management of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, expanding the geography of attracting labor is an excellent solution for reducing the shortage of personnel and an alternative to labor from Central Asia. «An important fact is that, unlike migrants from Central Asian countries, the cost of labor from Africa may be lower, and this is favorable for business,» the expert emphasized.
Domestic companies are reorienting themselves from the West to the global East and South, including the African continent, which is either friendly or neutral towards Russia. According to analysts at Freedom Finance Global, large Russian companies are increasing the hiring of Africans in the countries of the Black Continent mainly in cases where they are going to implement any business projects or open branches in these countries. Of course, the vast majority of Africans hired on recruiting sites will not replace migrants from Central Asia, because they are mainly looking for specialists with higher education. At the same time, it is unlikely that people from Africa will flood Russia, as they are today in Western Europe, since the conditions in our country for labor migrants are completely different than in Europe, and the climate is much colder and uncomfortable for them, experts said.
Scientists also argue that migrant workers from Africa will not solve the problem of personnel shortages in the Russian market. “To maintain economic growth, Russia needs to attract 200-300 thousand additional employees per year,” explains Alexey Zubets, director of the Institute of Socio-Economic Research at the Financial University. “It will not be possible to cover the shortage of such a volume of personnel only through the capabilities of Africa. I think that countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Vietnam are better suited to fill the talent gap. We should also remember about the capabilities of North Korea, which can provide very disciplined workers to the Russian labor market.” The expert draws attention to the fact that the scale of recruitment in Africa looks solid due to the fact that previously there was almost no such recruitment. If earlier Russian companies hired several dozen or hundreds of representatives of one or another African country, now they hire a couple of thousand. “It turns out there is a noticeable increase in percentage, but an insignificant increase in the labor force itself. I believe that African guest workers will not have any serious impact on the Russian labor market,” Zubets concluded.