As of January 15, the number of foreigners allowed to work in outdoor clothes and food markets has been reduced to 40% of the total workforce. Beginning April 1, they will be barred completely, a move designed to bring order to the sector and curb a wave of ethnically motivated crimes in the country.
"At outdoor markets in Moscow, one trading stall in three is empty, whereas in St. Petersburg, the Smolensk and Tambov Regions only 45-49% of available slots are in use," the service said in a special report prepared for a Cabinet meeting on labor migration.
It also said sales of foodstuffs, including meat, fish, sugar, and vegetable oil, as well as clothes had also decreased in a number of regions, primarily the Chita Region and the Khabarovsk Territory in the country's Far East.
Experts had warned earlier about the possibility of shortages of goods, the shutdown of marketplaces and possible price hikes for staple products, above all foodstuffs.
Some say the measures are discriminatory. They could affect relations with members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a union of 12 ex-Soviet republics, which provide Russia with most of its foreign labor force, and have prompted race-hate attacks.
Authorities in Russia, which is suffering a sharp population decline, also moved to streamline registration proceedings for migrant workers, the main labor force in many industries, primarily the booming construction sector, but limited the number of work permits to no more than 6 million a year.
The Federal Migration Service said last year that over 20 million people come to Russia every year as part of a post-Soviet "migration boom," and that half of those are in the country illegally.
It also said migrants evade taxes and duty payments, and that the resulting losses equal Russia's total budget spending on education and healthcare.
