Majority of foreign workers in Kazakhstan are Chinese

With a population of 17.4 million people, Kazakhstan attracts around 30,000 foreign workers annually. “Most foreign employees come from China – 9,600 people (31 percent), Turkey – 6,100 (20 percent), India – 2,300 (8 percent), Italy – 1,500 (5 percent), Uzbekistan – 1,100 (4 percent),” Vice Minister of Health and Social Development of Kazakhstan Daulet Argandykov said, akipress.org reports referring to tengrinews.

As of January 1, 2015, 30,728 foreign work permits were issued, he said.  Foreign work permits are granted to four categories of foreign workers: chief executives and their deputies, senior managers and head of structural subdivisions, skilled professionals and skilled workers.

Of them, the majority of foreign labor migrants in Kazakhstan are skilled professionals - 42.9 percent, followed by skilled workers who constitute 28.2 percent. The third largest group of foreign workers are senior managers of structural subdivisions (20.6 percent), whereas 6.5 percent of the foreign personnel are chief executives and their deputies and 1.7 percent are seasonal workers.

In addition, most of the foreign employees are involved in construction (20,800 people or 66.5 percent), mining (2,300 people or 7.4 percent) and processing industries (1,600 people or 5.2 percent). 980 foreign employees or 3.1 percent work in the service sector, while 552 labor migrants or 1.7 percent - in agriculture, forestry and fishery.