Socio-economic Determinants of Temporary Labour Migration in Western Jharkhand, India

Abstract

This article examines the socio-economic determinant of temporary labour migration in Jharkhand. The study uses primary data collected from 12 villages in the western region of Jharkhand. We have used logistic regression model to find out the socio-economic determinant of migration by setting, individual ( n = 4,241) and households ( n = 781). The regression results show that temporary migration is basically from poor households, and migrants are basically male, young and form Scheduled Caste community. Here, landholding and Monthly Per capita Consumption Expenditure (MPCE) have been taken as the indicator of poverty. We find that there is significant and negative relationship between land owned and migration, that is, the more the land owned, the less the household is likely to migrate. Further, we find that higher the MPCE, lesser the induvial is likely to migrate. Poverty, lack of sufficient means of subsistence, unequal distribution of landholding to meet household expenditure, availability of employment opportunities and loan are the main causes of temporary migration. Since temporary labour migration is very large, it needs to be given high priority with specific policy interventions.