Consequences of international and rural-urban internal migration for improving the occupational status of rural third world workers
Blair, M.C.L.; De Jong, G.F.
Working Papers Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University ( 1993-16): 14 pp.
1993
Document Number: 330275
This study analyses the consequences of international migration and a comparable internal migration stream, for the occupational attainment of male workers in developing countries. The data are taken from the Philippine Migration Survey of workers from the rural Ilocos region of the Philippines compared with those who have migrated to Manila and to the USA (Hawaii). The study compares the occupational prestige level of non-migrants with internal and international migrants, using a modified status attainment model, and assesses the relative significance of the model components in explaining the increase or decrease in occupational prestige levels for these rural immigrant workers. The results show that both international and rural-urban internal migrants have lower occupational prestige positions than the non-migrant comparison group, even after six or seven years. The major explanation for this was the negative interaction effects of migrant compositional characteristics and the returns to these characteristics migrants receive in international and internal urban destination labour markets.