OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- Unemployment is rising in Kyrgyzstan's Osh region as thousands of labor migrants return from Russia.
The chief of the Osh Regional State Committee on Migration, Nailya Zholdosheva, told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that last year the number of officially registered unemployed citizens in the region was just 10,000. That number has risen to 17,500 now.
Zholdosheva added that Russian companies officially invited more than 3,000 local workers last year.
This year, Zholdosheva said, there were no invitations at all.
Local experts say that social tensions might escalate in the region if the government is not able to set up new jobs in the near future.