Experience in Using Sample Surveys in Assessing the Prerequisites for Emigration to Russia (On the example of the Republic of Armenia)

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to examine the characteristics of households in the Republic of Armenia that send migrants to Russia compared with households that do not have migrants or that are not in Russia. The author used data from the sample survey – the Household’s Integrated Living Conditions Survey in the Republic of Armenia. The relevance of the study is emphasized, in particular, in connection with Armenia's accession to the EAEU and the creation of a single labor market.The article focuses on the survey programme, which includes questions that allow to characterize households by various parameters (in particular by household size, average per capita income, level of education, proportion of women, children and elderly in a household, migration component).The paper analyses households included in the survey (with household members who emigrated to the Russian Federation). Comparing this group with households without migrants or with migrants in other countries and regions shows that Russia is mainly chosen by labor migrants from households that live in rural areas, have a relatively small proportion of children, women, and the elderly. At the same time, such households are more numerous, the age of their heads is within the limits of the senior working age, and the proportion of working members is higher than in other households. Statistical analysis based on the data of the sample survey under consideration suggests that emigration to Russia is chosen mainly by households with a relatively low level of financial well-being. Thus, for a certain part of Armenian households, participation in labor migration to Russia is, in their opinion, a keyway to obtain a livelihood or an opportunity to increase the level of financial well-being of the entire household.