AN ANALYSIS OF LEAKAGE AND INJECTION OF HOUSEHOLDS RELATED TO SOCIO-ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND MOBILITY IN SELECTED DISTRICTS OF CENTRAL PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Purpose of the study: This study deals with leakages and injections of households due to socio-economic opportunities and mobility in Central Punjab, Pakistan. During the past few decades, researchers have been trying to analyze the changes caused by mobility in the socio-economic stratification of society over time. Methodology: For analysis purposes, the study uses primary data collected from the three selected districts of Central Punjab. The study used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for calculating the Socio-economic Status Index (SESI) by assigning the weights to indicators. The sample size is taken from 370 respondents by interviews. The sample size has been determined based on the population of each district, such as rural and urban. Main Findings: The results show that both creeper and struggling strata experience low mobility because households consider their basic needs highly important. The size of both low strata decreases due to leakages of households; while, the size of other strata increases due to the injection of households from low strata. The logistic regression results show the substantial contribution of both education and occupation in improving the socio-economic status of the households. Applications of this study: This study can provide guidelines to the policymakers for formulating appropriate policies that are relatively flexible for the middle stratum compared to creeper and ruler strata in Central Punjab. Novelty/Originality of this study: The novelty of the study is that it brings up the true picture of the structure of Central Punjab through estimating the household transformation by using leakage and injection in terms of intra-generational and intra-temporal household mobility. The results of the study can be used to reduce the income inequality in Central Punjab.