Photo: migrant.uz
In the first half of 2025, the authorities of Uzbekistan secured official employment abroad for 86,300 citizens. The announcement was made at an extended meeting of the “Milliy Tiklanish” party faction in the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis (Uzbekistan’s parliament), held jointly with the Committee on Labor, Health Care, and Social Affairs.
It was noted that through bilateral meetings with representatives of 17 countries and 22 international organizations, the Uzbek side managed to increase the number of quotas for work visas and conclude agreements with 129 major foreign companies.
Over the six-month period, 211,000 jobs were created abroad with an average monthly salary starting at $1,500. The largest increase in officially employed labor migrants was recorded in European Union countries, as well as in Japan, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. As a result, according to the Central Bank, the volume of international money transfers to Uzbekistan in the first six months of this year increased by 27 percent compared with the same period last year — reaching $8.2 billion.
By the end of the year, the government plans to bring the number of officially employed Uzbek citizens abroad to 200,000.
To train workers, international training centers were opened in nine regions of the country in partnership with organizations from Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Bulgaria. Since the beginning of the year, more than 45,000 citizens have completed professional training and foreign-language courses at these centers, as well as at vocational education institutions with private-sector participation.
At the same time, deputies pointed to ongoing problems. In particular, some regions still lack reliable statistics on employment, while others are falling behind annual targets. For example, in Tashkent, from January through April only 2,192 people were employed out of a planned 12,000 — just 18.3 percent of the approved figure.
During the meeting, deputies stressed the need to strengthen measures against illegal employment, develop special programs for women and young people seeking work abroad, and improve support mechanisms for citizens returning home.
In recent years, European countries have increasingly attracted labor from Uzbekistan. In 2022, the republic became the second-largest supplier of seasonal workers to the United Kingdom. In 2024, an agreement was signed with Germany to simplify entry for Uzbek workers. This year, the Uzbekistan Migration Agency agreed on the employment of 10,000 citizens in Japan over five years, while Italy promised to allocate 1,500 job quotas for Uzbeks starting in 2026.
