Labour Migration

Abstract

The decision to migrate and the choice of migration destination can both be regarded as the outcomes of a variety of influences and motives, amongst which employment opportunities are of major importance, particularly on those in early post-educational age groups. The concept of labour migration is not entirely straightforward since it refers not only to those changing place of usual residence who are members of the employed labour force, but also those who are part of the economically active population but who are unemployed. Although a change of residence is often associated with a change of job, significant proportions of migration involve those taking up jobs for the first time or after a period without work, and those unemployed who move in order to find work. In this context, Silvers (1977) has drawn the distinction between ‘contracted’ and ‘speculative’ migration. It is also important to recognize that labour migration is distinct from labour mobility (Vissers 1979) which refers to mobility on the labour market without change of residence.