Internal Migration and Employment in Bangladesh: An Economic Evaluation of Rickshaw Pulling in Dhaka City

Abstract

Internal migration of people from one locality to another for livelihood is a regular event in Bangladesh, though adequate secondary data on internal migration in this country is scarce and often not comprehensive. A study by Afsar (2003) on internal migration in Bangladesh analyzed datasets generated by the United Nations, the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and observed that rural–urban and urban–urban migration were around 90% of the total internal migration in the country. The Bangladesh Population and Housing Census 2011 (BBS 2012) reported that 9.71% of the population of Bangladesh internally migrated in their lifetime and 53.1% of the total internal migration was urban–urban or rural–urban. Available literature has identified income differentials among localities, higher value of work in urban areas, lack of year-round employment in rural areas, and natural disasters as primary determinants of internal migration in the country. Dhaka is the primary destination of urban–urban and rural–urban migration because of the availability of employment in the city. Islam (2013) states that economic forces are the strongest determinants in driving migration to the core urban centers of Dhaka and Chittagong. One of the most popular employment choices for internal migrants in Dhaka is to work as rickshaw pullers.