Socio-economic Determinants of Temporary Labour Migration in Western Jharkhand, India

Abstract

This article examines the socio-economic determinant of temporary labour migration in Jharkhand. The study uses primary data collected from 12 villages in the western region of Jharkhand. We have used logistic regression model to find out the socio-economic determinant of migration by setting, individual ( n = 4,241) and households ( n = 781). The regression results show that temporary migration is basically from poor households, and migrants are basically male, young and form Scheduled Caste community. Here, landholding and Monthly Per capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) have been taken as the indicator of poverty. We find that there is significant and negative relationship between land owned and migration, that is, the more the land owned, the less the household is likely to migrate. Further, we find that higher the MPCE, lesser the induvial is likely to migrate. Poverty, lack of sufficient means of subsistence, unequal distribution of landholding to meet household expenditure, availability of employment opportunities and loan are the main causes of temporary migration. Since temporary labour migration is very large, it needs to be given high priority with specific policy interventions.

Seasonal Migration of Human Resource in India: Evidence from National Sample Survey

“…The chances of lower to higher quintile migrants suggest that the highest quintile migrants are less likely to migrate seasonally for a living. Similarly, land keeping is a significant indicator that shows that smaller plots of land appear to migrate more than larger plots of land, which is supported by recent temporary labour migration in Jharkhand (13) . Seasonal migration's spatial patterns reveal an emerging significance phenomenon in the region.…”

Temporary Migration Decisions and Effects on Household Income and Diets in Rural Bangladesh

“…While several studies analyze determinants of temporary migration (Asefawu & Nedessa, 2022;Dodd et al, 2016;Keshri & Bhagat, 2013;Shahriar et al, 2006;Sucharita, 2020), these studies typically consider non-migration as the only alternative. In our study with primary data from rural Bangladesh, we have shown that this standard treatment of temporary migration as a binary choice against non-migration is incomplete in explaining migration decision-making.…”

“…A few previous studies examined how such constraining factors influence temporary migration decisions, yielding mixed results (Coffey et al, 2014;Dodd et al, 2016;Konseiga, 2005;Shonchoy, 2015;Sucharita, 2020). These studies mainly compared temporary migration to non-migration.…”

“…In-country migration can be temporary, longer term, or permanent. Temporary migration is a more common risk-coping strategy for the rural poor, and much bigger in size in developing economies, yet largely under-researched (Coffey et al, 2014;Keshri & Bhagat, 2013;Khandker & Mahmud 2012;Lucas, 2015;Sucharita 2020). In fact, temporary migration often remains 'invisible' in poverty economics, as it is seldom properly accounted for in household surveys and censuses due to its transient nature.…”

“…Several studies have analyzed determinants of temporary migration (Asefawu & Nedessa, 2022;Dodd et al, 2016;Keshri & Bhagat, 2013;Shahriar et al, 2006;Sucharita, 2020), and a few have also looked at effects (Bryan et al, 2014;de Brauw & Harigaya, 2007;Gibson & McKenzie, 2014;. However, these studies mainly compare temporary migration with non-migration, leaving a conceptual gap in understanding the choice of temporary migration as opposed to longer-term migration, which is also important to comprehend the behavior and effects of migration (Chen et al, 2019).…”