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Following a short-term burst of politically-motivated migration activity after the dissolution of the USSR, the current period is marked by the general contraction of the population territorial mobility in the region, the increasing importance of external emigration, and the growing role of the socio-economic factors in defining the character and intensity of the new migration flows. The expansion and substitution of temporary labor migration for the permanent politically motivated migration flows is particularly visible. Another important characteristic of the current situation is the disproportionate influence exercised by Russia on the formation of migration flows in the region. Russia remains the major recipient of migrants, increasingly plays a role of supplier of labor migrants to the West, and acts as a ?bridge? for those attempting to reach Western Europe. Relying on the data of the migrant households? surveys conducted in a number of post-Soviet states, the paper considers the reasons for the shift from the ethnic and political to the socio-economic factors of migration and discusses the major characteristics of the newly-forming labor migration flows. The major issues under consideration include the durability of the labor migration and the structural (professional and demographic) characteristics and the territorial orientation of the new migration flows. The authors conclude that labor migration serves as an effective mechanism of the market transition, providing for the economic survival of the population under the crisis conditions and formation of the middle class in the post-Soviet societies. Special attention in the paper is given to the policies of the countries of emigration and immigration towards the labor migrants and their impact on those countries? labor markets and welfare mechanisms. The authors see as one of the major problems the absence of an effective legislative base, institutional mechanisms, and political will for dealing with the new migration flows, preventing the effective incorporation of labor migrants by the societies of receiving states. This complicates the acquisition of legal status by many labor migrants, resulting in the criminalization of the spheres of economic activity in which they are employed and the growing corruption of state officials. Thus the solution of the problems associated with labor migration requires a comprehensive reform of the governmental policies and the labor and migrant legislation of the post-Soviet states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]