As a result of the brain drain in Primorsky Krai, companies are often forced to transfer personnel to the eastern region on a temporary basis.

VLADIVOSTOK — Highly skilled professionals from Primorsky Krai, in Russia’s far east are increasingly keen to move to European Russia, says Sergei Salikov, director of Ankor-Vladivostok, a subsidiary of the Moscow-based recruitment agency Ankor.

"Three or four years ago it was very difficult to persuade people to relocate from Vladivostok because of their emotional attachment to their homeland. But now many are migrating to Moscow, St. Petersburg or other cities in the Western part of Russia."

Salikov said that many of those filling out application forms at the agency indicate a willingness to relocate, the most common reason being the unstable economic and political situation in Primorsky Krai that has persisted for several years.

Although Primorsky Krai lacks highly skilled professionals in many fields, people are unwilling to move here from Russia’s other regions. "I can’t remember anyone relocating to Vladivostok through our agency in the last few years," Salikov said. "Everyone watches TV and has a negative image of the region."

Salikov also said that some companies are being forced to relocate personnel to Vladivostok, for periods of one to three years, to compensate for the lack of local employees qualified to fill positions in sales, marketing and finance.

According to Ankor-Vladivostok’s statistics, the specialists in most demand are sales representatives and sales managers, but a recent upturn in the economy also created a demand for industrial personnel. "The future of the recruitment business in Russia’s regions seems to lie in placing people in positions in industry; we have been getting an increasing number of requests to fill vacancies in engineering," Salikov said. He estimates that about 40 percent of the vacancies that companies try to fill through Ankor are in sales and marketing, 30 percent are in finance, 20 percent are in the industrial sector, and all other positions make up the remaining 10 percent.

Salaries for skilled professionals in Primorsky Krai have begun to increase, but they still remain much lower than before the 1998 crisis. The salary of a sales manager in a respectable Russian company is about $500-$600 per month, compared with about $1,000 in the summer of 1998 and $300-$400 in the summer of 1999. A chief accountant’s monthly salary rarely exceeds $500 per month, while before the crisis some were earning as much as $1,500.

Despite its geographical proximity to the United States, China, Korea and Japan, labor migration of Primorsky Krai residents to these countries is not as strong as to European Russia, according to Salikov.

Due to a special visa arrangement, residents of Primorsky Krai are able to cross the Chino-Russia border. As a result, they hardly even consider China to be a foreign country; nonetheless, most don’t consider China a good place to work. South Korea, meanwhile, has just begun to display an interest in hiring Russians, Salikov said

He added that U.S. companies are mostly hiring IT and PC personnel and that job requirements for applicants have lowered dramatically over the last two years. "There are not many specialists in IT in the [Primorsky Krai] market, and it is not likely that there will be any left in the near future," Salikov said.

The overall picture in Primorsky Krai is troubled. Despite their patriotism, more and more qualified people are leaving the region for the cities in European Russia and abroad. The area’s instability, coupled with the effects of the crisis, have made working in Russia’s Far East less attractive, leading to recruitment headaches for local employers.