Migration,Livelihood Strategies,and Agricultural Outcomes: A Gender Study in Rural China

In this study we examine whether the gender composition of migrants from rural households affects household economic strategies and agricultural productivity, which is the fundamental economic activity for rural Chinese. Using data from the 2010 and 2012 Chinese Family Panel Studies, this study treats households as the unit of analysis. Our results show that households with migrants are less likely to engage in agricultural activities or operate small businesses than households with no migrants. However, households with female migrants are less likely to engage in agricultural activities to a greater extent than those with male migrants, whereas the latter pose an obstacle to running small family businesses. This suggests that women may have to shoulder the burden of agricultural work when men migrate, whereas having male migrants from the households hampers households from engaging in local nonagricultural activities. Finally, although having male migrants who have left does not significantly discourage households from continuing agricultural activities, it does reduce agricultural productivity.     

The impact of social networks on the occupational status of migrants

This paper postulates that there is a continuous exchange of information and knowledge between those who share the common bond of having migrated to the US. The individual components of this information exchange constitute social networks. The 2 hypotheses tested are 1) immediate social networks and people known in the US facilitate the flow of information both to new migrants and between established migrants, thus promoting upward social mobility; and 2) access to broader network ties, organization membership, extra-ethnic friendships, and familiarity with established institutions smooths the transition process, resulting in increased social position. The data used comes from a study conducted in 1982-1983 in 4 Mexican sending communities (2 rural, 2 urban), for a total of 440 migrants. Results show that migrants in every socioeconomic bracket reported access to some or all social network characteristics. There was contact with either a family member or acquaintances from the migrants' town of origin. Over 50% of migrants reported knowing many fellow townspeople. Twice as many migrants belong to a sports club as to a social or religious organization. Very few rural migrants report knowing no townspeople, while 32% of urban migrants claim no knowledge of fellow migrants from their town of origin. Urban origin migrants report more contacts with those of other ethnicity than rural migrants. Those employed in agriculture are least acquainted with social information and contacts, while those in skilled and service sectors are well acquainted with them. The results of fact and analysis show that 1) access to personal US networks results in an average 4.4 point advantage in occupational prestige scores over no access, and 2) utilizing institutional US networks combined with any cumulative US experience gives a migrant a 5 point advantage over a fellow migrant with identical experience level but no institutional network contacts. This is also true for institutional Mexican networks. Thus success or failure in migrating is partly due to migrants' societal infrastructure and the fact that available information and social networks are accessed and utilized differently by different migrants.     

Migration Dynamics,Entrepreneurship, and African Development: Lessons from Malawi

Using data from Malawi, this study situates the discourse on migration, entrepreneurship, and development within the context of Africa's social realities. It examines self‐employment differences among three groups of migrants and corresponding group differences in agricultural and non‐agricultural self‐employment. International migrants are found to be more engaged in self‐employment than internal migrants. However, our results suggest that previous findings on the development‐related contributions of returning migrants from the West need to be appropriately contextualized. When returnees from the West invest in self‐employment, they typically shy away from Africa's largest economic sector – agriculture. In contrast, levels of self‐employment, especially in agricultural self‐employment, are highest among returning migrants and immigrants from other African countries, especially from those nearby. We also underscore the gendered dimensions of migrants’ contribution to African development by demonstrating that female migrants are more likely to be self‐employed in agriculture than male migrants. Furthermore, as human‐capital increases, migrants are more likely to concentrate their self‐employment activities in non‐agricultural activities and not in the agricultural sector. The study concludes using these findings to discuss key implications for policy and future research.     

Female Labor Migrants to Shanghai: Temporary “Floaters” or Potential Settlers?1

Using data on 54,373 migrants from the Fifth Sampling Survey of the Floating Population of Shanghai, this article isolates a group of 32,967 rural labor migrants who hold rural household registrations and whose previous occupations were in agriculture, and focuses on the women among them. The demographic and occupational characteristics of these 9,124 women are described, demonstrating that migration to Shanghai is a highly gendered process, with men and women working in different occupations and sectors. Moreover, important differences are found to exist between unmarried and married female rural labor migrants that indicate that the latter are probably accompanying and working with their migrant husbands. A significant proportion of female “social” migrants also exhibit characteristics that indicate that they are the spouses of male rural labor migrants, bringing to over one third the proportion of rural labor migrants to Shanghai who could be migrating as couples. These couples and their children may be the vanguard in a transition from temporary labor migration to settlement in China's large cities.     

Wer ist in Deutschland willkommen?Who is welcome in Germany?

Germany is currently experiencing a huge inflow of migrants. In this vignette study, we analyze how much different kinds of migrants are accepted in Germany. We investigate three different rights for migrants: the right to stay in Germany, the right to work in Germany and the right to receive social benefits. Our results show that people who flee from political persecution are much more accepted compared to migrants who come because of economic reasons. This is particularly true for the right to receive social benefits. On the other hand, our results suggest that there is a strong preference for high-skilled and culturally non-distant migrants. Concerns regarding individual competition on the job market seem to play only a minor role.     

Migration Planning Among Female Prospective Labour Migrants from Nepal: A Comparison of First‐Time and Repeat‐Migrants

As international female labour migration has increased, so too have efforts to prevent the exploitation of labour migrants. However, evidence to underpin prevention efforts remains limited, with little known about labour migrants’ migration planning processes. Using data from a survey of female prospective labour migrants from Nepal, this article compares socio‐demographics and migration‐planning processes between first‐time and repeat‐migrants. We identified several factors which might increase repeat‐migrants’ vulnerability to exploitation during the migration process, or obstruct their engagement in pre‐migration interventions: more rapid migration planning than first‐time migrants; lower involvement in community groups; and a perception that they already have the knowledge they need. Only one‐third of repeat‐migrants planned to go to the same destination and 42 per cent to work in the same sector as previously. With repeat‐migration a common livelihoods strategy, it is crucial that interventions are guided by evidence on the needs of both first‐time‐ and repeat‐migrants.     

Migration and the dialogue of multiple identifications: Kurdish migrants in the tourist industry of Istanbul

This article examines the cultural dilemmas proceeding from the multiple identifications of Kurdish migrants working in the multicultural environment of Istanbul’s tourist industry. Since identifications invariably multiply when migrants enter multicultural environments, the question emerges how migrants cope with increasing identifications? How are multiple identifications related within the self? In this article, these questions are addressed, first, by analysing how Kurds explain ethnic stereotypes of themselves with reference to migration from the region of origin. Furthermore, conflicts and ambiguities between identifications as individual migrant and identifications as family member are investigated. Third, identifications of the ‘villager’ versus the ‘urbanite’ are reviewed, while, finally, the role of ‘learning’ in the migration process for Kurdish identifications will be highlighted. Dialogical self theory is used to situate the analysis of cultural dilemmas and contradictions of Kurdish migrants in Istanbul within the broader study of multiple identifications of migrants in multicultural societies.     

Strategic Migrant Network Building and Information Sharing: Understanding ‘Migrant Pioneers’ in Canada

This article explores the migrant networks that develop between migrants, non‐migrants and the larger Indian diaspora. Specifically, it examines the decision to migrate to Toronto, Canada and how this decision is shaped by, and in turn shapes the migrant network. Based on 35 interviews with migrants from Karnataka, South India, two main findings are presented. First, migrants are deliberately choosing settlement countries in which their families are not yet located, thereby becoming “migrant pioneers” in their country of settlement, which is an attempt to expand their migrant networks globally. Second, the narratives these migrants receive and subsequently impart to others are often inaccurate, which can lead to miscommunication flows among these migrant networks. These findings are considered in light of the large body of research on migrant networks and the ways they develop and transmit information. This paper argues that existing understanding of migrant networks is somewhat static. Findings indicate that these “migrant pioneers” may be engaging in global risk‐diversification strategies for subsequent generations, but may themselves suffer from the more immediate consequences of misinformed networks.     

Rural Migrants in Shanghai: Living Under the Shadow of Socialism1

This article examines the fate of rural migrants in Shanghai, China's largest metropolis. Relying on data from a representative survey, it provides a profile of recent rural migrants and analyzes the pattern of occupational and income determination among them. The economic status between migrants and local residents is also compared. The authors show that despite a marked income improvement, rural migrants in Shanghai are still segregated from urban residents and argue that the social divide between urban and rural areas created under socialism has continued to function and may contribute to the formation of a dual society in urban China.     

Back Pay for Trafficked Migrant Workers: An Indonesian Case Study

In 2015 the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified almost 1,200 trafficked migrants working in slave‐like conditions on fishing boats in East Indonesia. The IOM helped the migrants and offered to cover the cost of repatriation to their countries of citizenship. The Indonesian government appreciated the financial support, not least because the victims’ embassies refused to pay. But most victims in one location refused to return to their home country without the wages owed to them by their trafficker‐cum‐employers. IOM policy states that migrants are eligible to use the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) service if they are unable or unwilling to remain in the host country. But another condition is that migrants must use the services voluntarily. The IOM could not force the migrants to leave the country, and national law prevented the Indonesian government from deporting the migrants because the IOM had identified them as victims of trafficking. 1     

Mobilizing in transnational contentious spaces: linking relations,emotions and space in migrant activism

Despite proliferation of political protest by migrants in recent years, analyses from a social movement perspective remain scarce. This lacuna is not coincidental, but theoretically grounded. According to dominant movement theories, migrants are unlikely subjects of mobilization due to legal obstacles, scarce resources and closed political and discursive opportunities. The article therefore explores how marginalized migrants organize transnational political protest against all evident odds. Drawing from extensive fieldwork and bridging transnational migration and social movement studies, it is argued that migrants mobilize within transnational social spaces, which link relations and emotions acquired on the move with the relational qualities at the locality of arrival. The article illustrates how the transnational spaces most migrants inhabit can be politicized and transformed into particular social formations, for which the term ‘transnational contentious spaces’ is suggested.     

WeChat use of mainland Chinese dual migrants in daily border crossing

Drawing on data derived from WeChat and the life experiences of its users, this study explores the daily affordances of WeChat in the cross-border lives of dual migrants from the Chinese mainland. In this study, 24 low-skilled Chinese dual migrants from the mainland who were working as security guards and cleaners were recruited to participate in in-depth interviews and group discussions. The lives of these dual migrants are marked politically, socially, and economically by their vulnerable status and by the stresses and vicissitudes that characterize their daily commute between Zhuhai (their place of residence) and Macao (their place of work). Dual migrants from the Chinese mainland use electronic media for support, pleasure, and access to information. One of the main online platforms they utilize is WeChat, a social networking site that is available on mobile phones. By framing these dual migrants’ usage of WeChat within the affordances of social media, this social networking site functions as a digital mediated space that provides migrants with communal solidarity, social interaction, access to information, and, in some cases, economic benefits.     

A socio-economic survey of Malian,Mauritanian and Senegalese immigrants resident in France

A socioeconomic survey of migrants from Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal who are residing in France is presented. The data are from the official statistics of the four countries concerned and from surveys undertaken in France and the countries of origin. Consideration is given to sources of data, places of origin, economic activity of migrants, length of stay, residence, and illegal immigration.     

Local Institutional Quality and Return Migration: Evidence from Viet Nam

This article examines the link between local institutional quality in the home country and locational choices of international return migrants. We scrutinize the locational choices of Vietnamese return migrants to the south central and the south regions of Viet Nam in 2014. Binary and multinomial regression models are fitted to identify the influence of migrants’ individual attributes and the characteristics of regional destinations within Viet Nam. Our analysis reveals that both individual‐specific and region‐specific variables are significantly related to Vietnamese return migrants’ choices when registering for permanent residency back in their home country. More remarkably, we provide compelling evidence of the positive role of institutional quality at the local level in these migration decisions. Moreover, the effect of institutional quality differs with the characteristics of migrants: regions with better institutional quality are more attractive both to younger return migrants and to those who returned from host countries with better institutional quality.     

Adaptation to a new world: experience of Bangladeshis in Japan

The author explores aspects of Bangladeshi migration to Japan. "The information base for the study is two major sources: sections on the level and trend of migration, socio-economic characteristics of migrants and their job experiences in Japan are based on a survey of Bangladeshi returned migrants from Japan. Information on their socio-economic adjustment was obtained from personal interviews with migrants who had lived and worked in Japan." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Early return of Sri Lankan migrants in the Middle East

The author examines early return migration patterns of labor migrants from Sri Lanka in the Middle East. "Attention [is given] to the reasons why a considerable number of migrants return to their country of origin prematurely.... Differentials in the duration of stay in the host country, as well as some of the consequences of early return migration for the migrant and his family [are discussed].... The data used for this article are based primarily on a random survey held among 899 return migrants, 858 family members of current migrants and 409 non-migrants...[for] the period December 1985 to July 1986." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Poles Apart? EU Enlargement and the Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrants in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom was one of only three countries to allow migrants from accession countries to enter their labour markets more or less without restriction following European Union enlargement in May 2004. Therefore, it is important to establish the characteristics and labour market performance of migrants from these countries who have subsequently entered the United Kingdom. We principally analyse Labour Force Survey data to compare the labour market outcomes of recent migrants from Poland and other accession countries to those of earlier migrant cohorts from these countries as well as to those of other recent migrants to the United Kingdom. We find that the majority of post‐enlargement migrants from the new member states have found employment in low paying jobs, despite some (especially Poles) possessing relatively high levels of education. It follows that recent Polish migrants typically have lower returns to their education than other recent arrivals. Migrants from the new member states who arrived immediately prior to enlargement have similar characteristics and labour market outcomes, apart from displaying a higher propensity to be self‐employed. These results are discussed in the context of policy changes, migration strategies, assimilation effects and possible impacts on the sending countries.     

Contextualizing Migrants' Strategies of Seeking Medical Care in Russia*

Russia is an important destination for labour migrants from the former Soviet Union republics especially Central Asian low‐income countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The life of migrants from Central Asia is characterized in Russia by scarce resources and social exclusion. Limited access to healthcare is aggravated by the negative attitudes and discrimination that migrants face when visiting state hospitals and clinics. In our study, we aim to describe the medical infrastructure available to migrants in Moscow. We investigate how migrants use formal and informal strategies to overcome the barriers to their receiving medical care in the urban environment. The study is based on the analysis of qualitative interviews with 60 labour migrants from Central Asian countries and 23 caregivers working in Moscow‐based medical facilities such as state hospitals, outpatient clinics, ambulance stations, and private medical centres including the so‐called Kyrgyz clinics.     

An Empirical Examination of Characteristics of Mexican Migrants to Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas of the United States*

Abstract This research examines differences between those Mexican migrants choosing metropolitan destinations and those choosing destinations outside metropolitan areas of the United States. Using general estimating equations, the study presents data indicating that since the 1960s migrants choosing rural destinations are less fluent in English, slightly older, much less educated, far more likely to be unskilled, more likely to be married, and more likely to be undocumented. The picture is more complex when consideration is restricted to those migrants arriving in rural areas since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. These migrants are far more likely to be single, have more education but have less English fluency, have less work experience, and have less family experience with migration to the United States. They are more likely to come from small towns and rural areas of Mexico.     

Impact of the Group of Co‐migrants on Strategies of Acculturation: Towards an Expansion of the Berry Model

This article proposes expanding Berry’s theory of acculturation strategies into a three‐fold model to be applied to the case of acculturation among migrants. The expanded model includes the community of co‐migrants as a distinct referent. It addresses the dynamic and multi‐directional relationship between the three referents and the individual migrant, which all interact to create the experience of acculturation among migrants. An expanded typology is presented representing positive or negative attitudes toward each referent. The typology delineates eight possible strategies of acculturation among migrants, namely positive attitudes towards all three referents, negative attitudes towards all three, and the six possible variations between these extremes. Though not previously conceptualized and formalized, examples of all eight strategies were found in the existing literature. Some examples are cited, supporting the assertion that in the socio‐psychological phenomenon of acculturation among migrants, the community of co‐migrants plays a role which may be differentiated from the home culture and the host culture referents of the Berry model. The model provides a structure for exploring expression of these acculturation strategies among various sub‐groups within a community of co‐migrants. The current article is essentially a hypothesis paper, citing support for each of the proposed strategies of acculturation from published empirical studies carried out among a wide variety of migrant populations. A preliminary testing of the typology ( Taieb, 2008 ) found that the cultures of the home, host and co‐migrant communities do play distinct roles in the acculturation process, and verified that the eight profiles may be recognized in an empirical study. Directions for further empirical verification and refining the preliminary model are suggested.