Publication Details
Abstract
This article examines the changing scale, geography and institutional organization of external labor migration from Uzbekistan in a globalised economy. The study applies descriptive statistics, growth-rate and volatility analysis, log-linear trend estimation and ratio-based assessment of institutional capacity to official data from the Central Bank of Uzbekistan, the Migration Agency, the Office of the President and the United Nations, with a statistical cut-off of 30 September 2026. Remittance inflows rose from USD 6.0 billion in 2020 to USD 18.9 billion in 2025, a compound annual growth rate of 25.8 percent, but year-on-year growth ranged from −32.9 to +109.9 percent and the 2022 value exceeded its log-linear trend by about 60 percent. In January–June 2026, inflows reached USD 9.3 billion, 13 percent above the same period of 2025, and person-to-person card transfers became the main channel (51.7 percent). Inflows from the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States grew faster than total inflows, indicating diversification of destinations. Occupation-specific training covered only about 8.5 percent of reported foreign employer demand, and about 35 percent of trainees had been placed. The discussion shows that these results are consistent with international evidence on remittance volatility, transfer costs and managed skill partnerships. The main implication is that migration outcomes should be assessed by employment quality, legal protection, skill acquisition and the productive use of remittances, rather than by placement numbers alone.