Abstract
The labour market adaptation of ethnic Kazakh repatriates (qandases) in Kazakhstan has attracted growing scholarly attention, yet region-specific studies of employment integration remain scarce. This article investigates the labour market adaptation strategies of repatriates in the Zhetysu region, drawing on semi-structured interviews with qandases who migrated from China, Mongolia, and Uzbekistan. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed three distinct strategies: entrepreneurial adaptation, characterised by self-employment and small business creation; professional adaptation, defined by employment in one's specialist field; and forced adaptation, involving entry into low-skilled or informal labour unrelated to one's qualifications. Adaptation outcomes are shaped by education level, language proficiency, Cyrillic literacy, social networks, and country of origin. Repatriates from Uzbekistan integrated most smoothly into formal employment, owing to a shared Soviet institutional heritage and Russian-language competence, whereas those from China faced the steepest barriers because of script incompatibility. Across all groups, kinship and compatriot networks were the primary channels for labour market entry. The entrepreneurial strategy emerged as the most prevalent response, not as a first choice but as a structural outcome of language barriers, credential non-recognition, and inadequate formal employment conditions.