An analysis of the determinants of internal labor mobility in India
Greenwood, M.J.
Annals of Regional Science 5(1): 137-151
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0570-1864 PMID: 12265610 DOI: 10.1007/bf01288119Document Number: 519593
2 different dependent variables were used in this analysis of the determinants of labor mobility in India: Mij is the number of males born in state i and enumerated in state j on March 5, 1961; and Mij is the number of males who were born in state i and had been living in state j for less than 1 year, as of March 5, 1961. A number of mobility studies dealing with advanced as well as less developed economies have found distance to be 1 of the most important variables in explaining the spatial allocation of migrants. Distance serves as a proxy for both the money and the nonmoney costs of migration. In India the distance elasticity of migration was negative and highly significant. The results suggest that either the money or the non-money costs of migration for which distance is a proxy, or both, are important deterrents to migration in India. If migrants are, "certeris paribus," moving away from low income states and to high income states, then the sign associated with origin income variable should be negative while that associated with the destination income variable should be positive. In every regression the coefficients of the income variables were highly significant and had the expected signs, suggesting that migrants in India tend to move from low income to high income states. Migration tended to be away from and to population states. While migration was away from highly urbanized states, it did not seem to be toward highly urbanized places in India. Migration did tend to be in the direction of places which are urbanizing rapidly and away from places which are urbanizing slowly. Evidence exists that in India mobility tends to increase with increased education, a finding contrary to what was found for Ghana, Egypt, and Brazil. In addition, migration in India tended to be toward places which display relatively high levels of educational achievement. This result was similar to those obtained for Ghana, Egypt, and Brazil. Poorly educated individuals, despite the possibility that they may be unable to compete effectively for the available jobs in such places, may be attracted to regions of high educational attainment in the hope of improving their or their childrens' education and thereby bettering their prospects.
Document emailed within 0-6 h
