Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on Chinese business which has been evolving in Kazakhstan since 1990s and discusses its economic and social benefits and disbenefits

Paper long abstract:

This paper focuses on Chinese business which has been evolving in Kazakhstan since 1990s and represents big companies, medium enterprises and small entrepreneurs functioning in various economic sectors and regions. Chinese businesses and labor force have had multiple positive and negative impacts, analysed at macro-, meso, and microlevel. The paper is based on a wide range of the Kazakh and Chinese governmental and international statistics and secondary sources.

Big Chinese companies contribute to developing sectors such as energy, transport, construction, communication, agriculture, services (banking, catering, medical services), and support overall economic development of Kazakhstan. They assist in diversifying national economy by investing in transit transportation infrastructure in a land-locked country, in addition to its primary focus on oil and gas extracting industries. Chinese companies create new jobs, retrain local labor, and invest in social programs and community-based projects addressing social issues.

The impact of Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on a number of domestic sectors of Kazakhstan is seen as challenging. On the one hand, Chinese SMEs supply the market with goods and services; on the other, local enterprises lose in competition with Chinese businesses. This has led to a substantial decline of footwear, clothing and textile sectors, amongst other. The paper addresses a variety of external and internal causes of this decline, as well as other controversial consequences.

The official recruitment of Chinese qualified labor force includes CEOs, managers, professionals and skilled workers. Anti-Chinese sentiments lead to concerns about rising competition in the labor market; employment and remuneration practices in Chinese companies are a frequent subject of public scrutiny.

There are also segments in Kazakhstan’s labor market that specialize in trading in Chinese goods and provide livelihood to hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, salespersons, drivers and security personnel. If trade volume with China were to decline, Kazakhstan would suffer not only from a shortage of goods, but also from unemployment.

Thus, the paper discusses both the benefits and disbenefits of Chinese business presence in Kazakhstan at all levels, starting from the most positive (big companies) to mixed (SMEs), to mostly negative impacts, specifically those of petty trade. The complexities of the Chinese business are intertwined with local labor market challenges and have to be studied in depth in order to inform proactive migration policies in the future.