We never plan to return home: voices of pre-migrant Ghanaian youth

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore return migration intentions among pre-migrant youth in Ghana. The study applied the neoclassical economics, new economics of labor migration, and structuralist theories. Thirty-four students (16 females and 18 males) were purposively recruited as participants for the study. Each student participated in one out of four digitally recorded focus group discussions. The data were analyzed to identify emerging themes that addressed objectives of the study. Participants were final year undergraduate and graduate university students and their ages ranged from 22 to 34 years. Analysis of the data revealed that participants had plans to migrate to the diaspora to seek income-generating and educational opportunities. Furthermore, evidence showed that the youth included in this study had no intentions of returning to their country of origin due to three major reasons (economic, family pressure, and stigma). For many pre-migrants, returning to their country of origin is not an option, especially if they are able achieve their goals in the diaspora. Given that return migration usually involves labor migrants who did not reap the benefits of higher earnings abroad and were therefore regarded as failed migrants, there is the need for government and other stakeholders to initiate policies that address the socioeconomic and psychological challenges faced by return migrants.