Migrant labour in contemporary South Africa

South Africa has a history of distorted and controlled migration. Remnants of this history are still present to this day. The purpose of this study is to understand the patterns of migration in contemporary South Africa. In particular we focus on the interactions between migration and labour force participation decisions. Using the GPS coordinates in South Africa’s first nationally representative panel dataset, the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), migration is defined as a movement of individuals across municipal boundaries between waves of the NIDS survey. The analysis then goes on to explore the factors driving this migration. A range of relevant individual and household variables are available in NIDS. In addition community level factors such as socio-economic indicators and local service delivery are derived from Census and Community Survey and merged into NIDS in order to provide a rich dataset. Descriptive analysis is followed by the estimation of a biprobit model of migration and participation. Thereafter, the post-migration earnings of migrants are estimated while accounting for selection. The young, educated and the relatively better-off in migrant communities are more likely to migrate and individuals are found to migrate out of communities with high levels of relative inequality. The interdependence of the migration and participation decisions is affirmed. In modeling earnings of migrants we find we find that the selection into migration has a negative effect on wages, especially for high income earners. In general we find that South Africa is beginning to report similar trends in migration to its developing country peers.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Economics

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Schiel, Reinhard

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leibbrandt, Murray

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/13154

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/13154