How Immigrants Contribute to Kyrgyzstan's Economy
The recent effects of immigration on the Kyrgyz economy appear to be limited. Many
immigrants have been in the country for several decades, hence are overrepresented
among the older cohorts, resulting in a lower labour force participation rate than
among the native-born. Still, the estimated share of value added generated by immigrants
exceeds their share of the labour force but also of the population. Overall, immigration
is not associated with a deteriorating labour force situation for the native-born
population. In contrast, the current contribution of immigrants to public finance
appears to be negative. The high concentration among retirement-age individuals is
a major reason for this outcome as the estimate disregards their prior contributions
to public revenues. Kyrgyzstan's economy would benefit from changes in certain migration
and non-migration sectoral policies.
How Immigrants Contribute to Kyrgyzstan’s Economy is the result of a project carried
out by the OECD Development Centre and the International Labour Organization, with
support from the European Union. The project aimed to analyse several economic impacts
– on the labour market, economic growth, and public finance – of immigration in ten
partner countries: Argentina, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Ghana,
Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand. The empirical evidence stems
from a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses of secondary and in some
cases primary data sources.
Published on December 05, 2017