labour migration in india

7/28/2019 Labour Migration in India

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Labor Migration in India

R. Lusome*

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to examine the extent of employment oriented

migration in India. It is found that the percentage is very small for

employment oriented migration. However, an analysis of work force

participation using NSSO 55th

Round data on migration reveals that

irrespective of the reasons for migration, work participation of the

migrants increased steeply in the past migration period.

The paper also explains these differences by taking into account duration

and educational level of the migrants. Results show that educational level

play a greater role in explaining the difference in employment oriented

migration while duration since migrated explains better the differential in

labor force participation of the migrants.

* Ph.D. Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India.


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Introduction

Migration from one area to another in search of improved livelihood is a key feature of

human history. While some regions and sectors fall behind in their capacity to support

populations, other move ahead and people migrate to access these emerging

opportunities. Industrialization widens the gap between rural and urban areas, including a

shift of the workforce towards industrializing areas. There is extensive debate on the

factors that causes populations to shift from those that emphasize individual rationality

and household behavior to those that cite the structural logic of capitalist development.

Migration has become a universal phenomenon in modern times. Due to the expansion of

transport and communication, it has become a part of worldwide process of urbanization

and industrialization. In most countries, it has been observed that industrialization and

economic development has been accompanied by large-scale movements of people from

villages to towns, from towns to other towns and from one country to another country.

From the demographic point of view, migration is one of the three basic components of

population growth of any area, the other being fertility and mortality. But whereas both

fertility and mortality operate within the biological framework, migration does not. It

influences size, composition and distribution of population. More importantly, migration

influences the social, political and economic life of the people.

Indian constitution provides basic freedom to move to any part of the country, right to

reside and earn livelihood of their choice. Thus, migrants are not required to register

either at the place of origin or at the place of destination. A number of economic, social,

cultural and political factors play an important role in the decision to move. The effects of

these factors vary over time and place.

Analysis of labor migration is important to understand the peoples movement within the

country as a response to changes in economic, political and cultural factors (Singh, 1998).

In India, permanent shifts of population and workforce co-exist with the circulatory

movement of populations between lagging areas and developed regions and between

rural and urban areas, mostly being absorbed in the unorganized sector of the economy.

In 2001, Indias population exceeded 1 billion, with 67.2 percent of the population living


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in rural areas and the other 32.8 percent in towns and cities. Of the total workforce, 73.3

percent remained in rural areas, while the rest 26.7 percent are in urban areas (Census

2001).

Internal migration is now recognized as an important factor in influencing social and

economic development, especially in developing countries. Indian censuses record that in

2001, 309 million persons were migrants based on place of last residence, which

constitute about 30% of the total population of the country. This is nearly double the

number of internal migrants as recorded in the census of 1971 (159 million). This

suggests that socio-economic changes in the last three decades have greatly affected the

mobility of the population (Lusome, 2006).

Migration is defined as a move from one migration defining area to another, usually

crossing administrative boundaries made during a given migration interval and involving

a change of residence (UN 1993). The change in residence can take place either

permanent or semi-permanent or temporary basis (Premi, 1990).

A recent survey shows that census is the largest source of information on internal

migration at the cross-country level. A study shows that 138 countries collected

information on internal migration in their censuses compared to 35 through registers and

22 from surveys (Bell, 2003).

In India, information on migration has been collected in a number of large scale and

localized sample surveys. While the population census remained the most extensive

source of migration data, sample surveys on migration has become popular for an in-

depth analysis of migration.

Data and methods

The paper uses data from Census of India 2001 as well as data from the National Sample

Survey Organization (NSSO) 55th Round on Migration. According to Indian Census, a

person is considered a migrant if birthplace or place of last residence is different from

place of enumeration. The National Sample Survey Organization of Government of India

carried out an all-India survey on the situation of employment and unemployment in

India during the period July 1999-June 2000. This 55th

Round Data was published in


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August 2001. In this survey, data was collected on migrants as well. It defines a migrant

as a member of the sample household who had stayed continuously for at least six

months or more in a place other than the place of enumeration. It collects the reasons for

leaving the last usual place of residence under the following heads: (a) in search of

employment (b) in search of better employment (c) to take up employment/better

employment (d) transfer of service/contract (e) proximity to place of work (f) studies (g)

acquisition of own house/flat (h) housing problems (i) social/political problem (j) health

(k) marriage (l) migration of parent/earning member of the family and (m) others.

A simple analysis using bivariate tables has been carried out in the paper to bring out the

extent of employment oriented migration in India. Moreover, the paper also attempts to

study the difference between the stated reasons for migration and the labor force

participation, taking into account duration and educational qualification of the migrants.

Employment oriented migration

Employment oriented migration is obtained by combining the migrants that have given

work/employment and business as their reason for migration. It is found that employment

oriented migration is quite small, particularly among female migrants with just around 2

percent of total female migrants giving employment or business as the reason for their

migration.

As shown by Table: 1, it is however clear that migration towards urban areas are still

more likely to be associated with employment oriented reasons. It is also seen that the

percentage of employment migration for males are quite high, whether it is rural-bound

or urban-bound migration. It is interesting to observe that out of the total rural-bound

male migration, 40 percent have moved for work related reasons.


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From Table: 2, we see that the percentage of employment oriented migrants is quite high

for migrants moving from urban areas. More than half of male migrants in the urban to

rural streams have moved for work or business purposes.

Looking at the interstate streams of migration, nearly 41 percent of migrants have stated

work or business as their reasons of their move from urban to rural areas. Two-third of

males from urban to rural areas have migrated for employment and related reasons.

The following tables (Table 3 onwards) are obtained from the NSSO 55th

Round on

Migration. NSSO collects data on both temporary and long term migrants. However, the

paper has considered only the long term migrants for the following analysis. In the

following analysis, employment oriented migrants are the migrants who had given

reasons (a) to (e) for their move. Labor force participants are the migrants who are

currently employed or are seeking or available for work.

Table 3 gives the percentage of migrants who have given employment related reasons for

migration vis--vis labor force participation by sex and rural urban status. Table 3 gives

the percentage of migrants giving employment and related reasons for migration vis--vis

the labor force participation of the migrants. It is clearly seen from the table that nearly

46 percent of male migrants have reported employment related reasons as their motive

behind migration, while it is just above 2 percent of female migrants that have reported

employment and work related reason for their move.

Comparison with census figure in table 1, it is learnt that the sample survey data (7%)

shows a smaller percentage of employment oriented migrants in rural areas than the

census (10%). This could be the result of the difference in the definition of migrants in

the two data sources. Circular migrants and temporary migrants could not be captured by

the present dataset of the NSSO.


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If we further compare employment oriented migrants and the labor force participation of

the migrants, it is evident that more migrants are in the labor force, be it male or female

migrants. Around 38 percent of total migrants are in the labor market with 70 percent of

males and 26 percent of females. This is in vast contrast to the stated reasons for

migration particularly for females, among which just a meager 3 percent have given

employment and work related reasons.

Table 4 dissects the vast difference between stated reasons and labor participation into

different streams of migration. Here, the biggest difference is seen in the rural to rural

stream, with around 6 percent employment oriented migrants while 38 percent from this

stream are in the labor force. The difference is smaller in urban bound migration when

compared with rural bound migration.

The gap between employment oriented migration and labor force participation further

decreases for the interstate streams of migration. Though, there is gap for male and

female migrants, it is clear that greater difference is seen among female migrants.

Table 5 shows the percentage of labor migration by educational qualification and

duration since migration. It is seen from the table that at higher educational qualification

level, higher percentage of migrants is migrating for employment or work related reasons

irrespective of duration since their migration. Sex differential are clearly seen in all

duration and educational level, with the percentage of employment oriented female

migrant ranging from as low as 1 percent in illiterate and primary category to about 10

percent in graduate & above category migrated within 1-4 years. A meager 2 percent of

illiterate female have migrated for employment or work related reasons compared to

above 7 percent of graduate and above female migrants. Higher percentage of male have

migrated for employment and related reasons, ranging from around 37 percent in primary


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category to about 59 percent in graduate and above category. From the table it is also

seen that recent migrants are more likely to have moved for employment or related

reasons. However, it is noted that about 58 percent of male migrants who migrated 15-19

years back reported employment and work related reasons for migration.

Table 6 gives the percentage of labor force participation of migrants by educational

qualification and duration. From the table, it is seen that the percentage of labor force

participation is greatest among graduate and above migrants and lowest among primary

educated migrants. It is surprising to note that labor force participation is greater among

illiterate migrants than primary educated migrants. A positive relationship of duration

with labor force participation is evident from the table. However, highly qualified recent

migrants are more likely to be in the labor force than illiterate migrants of any duration.

The following graph 1 shows the gap between the stated reasons for migration and labor

force participation by education and duration. As could be seen from the graph, the

difference is wider for the illiterate and the highly educated migrants, significantly for the

migrants of 15-19 years duration.

Discussion

An analysis of labor migration from the census collected or survey collected reasons

grossly underestimate the extent of labor migration in India. It ignores the fact that

migrants irrespective of their reasons could be in the labor force. This become relevant

particularly for female migrants who have moved for marriage, but might also be the

leading earner of the family. Moreover, census and sample surveys recorded only the

most important reason for migration.

Even though the gap between stated reasons and labor participation is justified, one may

need to look into why the gap is wider for rural bound migrants or why the gap decreases


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for interstate migrants? Is it possible that rural bound migrants are shying away from

reporting their move as employment oriented or are they being in the labor force out of

lack of choices? This definitely calls for further analysis of the data available.

References

Bell, Martin. 2003. Comparing Internal Migration between Countries: Measures, Data

Sources and Results. Paper Presented in Population Association of America 2003,

Minneapoplis, May 1-3.

Census of India 2001. Soft copy, India D-series,Migration Tables. Registrar General and

Census commissioner, India.

Lusome, R., Bhagat, R.B. 2006. Trends and Patterns of Internal Migration in India,

1971-2001. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of Indian Association forthe Study of Population (IASP), Thiruvananthapuram 7-9 June, 2006.

Singh, D.P., 1986. Internal Migration in India: 1961-1991 Demography India 27(1):245-261.

Premi, M. K., 1990. India. In Charles B. Nam, William J. Serow, and David F. Sly(eds.), International Handbook on Internal Migration. New York: Greenwood

Press.

U.N. 1993. Readings in Population Research and Methodology, The United Nations

Population Fund, New York.


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Tables

Table 1: Employment Oriented Migration (in %)

Total Rural Urban

Male 31.1 39.8 36.0

Female 1.9 1.7 3.3

Total 10.4 10.3 17.2

Source: Census 2001


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Table 2: Percentage of employment oriented migrants by streams of migration

Total Male Female

Rural to rural 4.9 25.3 1.3

Rural to urban 10.9 25.9 2.8

Urban to rural 28.3 55.2 4.1

Urban to urban 19.5 38.8 3.6

Interstate migration

Total Male Female

Rural to rural 17.4 51.3 4.1

Rural to urban 20.1 41.4 4.3

Urban to rural 40.8 66.6 5.0

Urban to urban 27.1 51.8 4.4

Source: Census 2001


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Table 3: Labor Migration (% of migrants)

Employment oriented* Labor force participant

Total Rural Urban Total Rural Urban

Male 45.5 33.3 51.9 70.0 70.1 70.0

Female 2.2 1.4 3.5 26.0 31.9 15.8

Total 13.6 6.6 22.3 37.5 38.1 36.9

Employment Oriented* :(a) in search of employment (b) in search of better employment (c) to take upemployment/better employment (d) transfer of service/contract (e) proximity to place of work


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Table 4: Percentage of labor migrants by streams of migration

Employment oriented Labor force participant

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Rural to rural 5.5 34.4 1.2 37.3 68.7 32.6

Rural to urban 24.6 56.9 3.5 39.1 72.3 17.5

Urban to rural 14.5 31.3 3.7 43.2 72.5 24.5

Urban to urban 19.4 46.1 3.4 33.6 66.8 13.8

Interstate migrants

Employment oriented Labor force participant

Total Male Female Total Male Female

Rural to rural 19.3 57.6 2.4 42.3 78.4 26.5

Rural to urban 41.1 72.8 3.9 51.3 83.4 13.6

Urban to rural 18.6 28.1 5.8 53.2 76.0 22.8

Urban to urban 25.9 55.9 3.4 37.2 70.1 12.5


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Table 5: Employment oriented migration by educational qualification and duration

Illiterate Primary SecondaryGraduate &

aboveDuration

T M F T M F T M F T M F


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Table 6: Labor force participation of migrants by educational qualification and

duration

Illiterate Primary Secondary

Graduate &

aboveDurationT M F T M F T M F T M F


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Figure

Figure 1: Percentage of labor migrants by duration and educational qualification

Dur ation and ed ucational qualification

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

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