Migrants’ labour market performance

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5.4.3 Migrants’ labour market performance

The key question related to Afghani stan’s labour migrants is how successful they have been in finding and keeping jobs. Figure 5.21 reveals stark differences between labour market outcomes for labour migrant groups and the general population. In general, labour migrants perform better in the labour market than the total population, and internal migrants again better than the immigrants panel a. However, glaring differences exist between men and women in this respect. For men the proportion that remains inactive is about half or less of that in the total male population panel b. Some 68 percent of male internal labour migrants found what is considered gainful employment compared to the 53 percent in the total population and the shares of those who were underemployed or unemployed were relatively low 11 percent each. In contrast, male immigrants were less effective in finding gainful employment 59 percent, and especially face more unemployment 20 percent. On the other hand, the employment situation of female labour migrants is bleak: 74 percent of internal migrants and even 83 percent for immigrants remain inactive. This is even more than the proportion in the total population 71 percent. Furthermore, significant shares of the rest 9 to 10 percent are fully unemployed. Figure 5.21: Total population and labour migrant populations, by sex, and by current activity status in percentages a. Both sexes b. Males c. Females Compared to the total male 31 working population, those labour migrants who managed to secure employment appear to have by and large found better jobs. In the population at large, 76 percent of working males are in vulnerable employment being an unpaid family worker, a day labourer or an own account worker. For labour migrant workers this is only 59 percent; a smaller proportion of unpaid family workers among them being largely responsible for this relatively low share of vulnerable workers Figure 5.22 . Labour migrants also appear to have been more successful in obtaining salaried employment than the rest. 31 The observations of female working labour migrants were too few to produce statistically reliable results. 71 74 83 14 11 7 4 6 11 9 10 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Total population Internal labour migrants Labour immigrants P er ce n tag e Inactive Employed Underemployed Unemployed 19 10 7 53 68 59 14 11 14 14 11 20 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Total population Internal labour migrants Labour immigrants P er ce n tag e Inactive Employed Underemployed Unemployed 45 24 29 34 55 44 9 10 10 13 11 17 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Total population Internal labour migrants Labour immigrants P er ce n tag e Inactive Employed Underemployed Unemployed 80 Figure 5.22: Male employed total population and labour migrants, by status in employment in percentages In terms of earnings, too, labour migrants perform better. Male labour migrants earn more than men in the same job position in the total population, except as day labourers Table 5.7 . For salaried workers in the public sector and own-account workers the difference is even more substantial. Overall, male labour migrant workers earned around 50 percent more than the average male workers. However, we cannot conclude from these results, that labour migration is always beneficial because positive outcomes depend on what makes individuals migrate. Labour migrants who do move for employment are probably those who are in any case better endowed with skills. Being more skilled, they are subject to both push and pull factors which encourage them to move out of their local labour markets where the demand for their skills is weak, to those areas where their skills are in great demand, and which offer them better terms and conditions of work. However, it can be concluded that while migration does not always guarantee getting a job, male migrants are better able to access those that are available. They are generally more able to secure on average better-quality and better-paid jobs. Most female migrants however, face jobs prospects that are starkly different, with the majority ending up inactive in the labour market after migration. Table 5.7: Mean and median monthly earnings of total male working population and male sedentary labour-migrant workers, by status in employment in Afghanis a Status in employment Mean Median Total Migrants Ratio Total Migrants Ratio Total 9,380 14,218 1.5 7,000 10,000 1.4 Employer 44,781 10,000 Salaried worker, private sector 13,115 13,772 1.1 10,000 11,400 1.1 Salaried worker, public sector 11,967 17,636 1.5 10,000 14,000 1.4 Own-account worker 9,179 15,311 1.7 6,000 10,000 1.7 Day labourer 6,518 6,130 0.9 5,438 6,090 1.1 Unpaid family worker N.A. N.A. a Insufficient observations; N.A. Not applicable 16 6 22 19 38 34 2 1 8 16 14 24 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Total population Labour migrants P er ce n tag e Unpaid family worker Day labourer own-account worker Employer Salaried worker, private Salaried worker, public 81 5.4.4 Kuchi labour migration Compared to the sedentary population, migration for seeking work is more prevalent among the Kuchi in the years since 2002 12 against 19 percent of all recorded migrations. A fairly large share of these job seekers was successful in finding work 77 percent, while 7 percent remained unemployed and 15 percent became inactive. This pattern was relatively similar for Kuchi men and women, with the largest difference being in the proportion becoming inactive 13 percent for men and 20 for women. Despite high rates of employment, the quality of work performed by Kuchi is usually poor. Almost all – 96 percent – of Kuchi labour migrant workers are in vulnerable employment, mostly as unpaid family workers 48 percent, for women even 100 percent and own-account workers 37 percent. This translates into monthly earnings that amount to only 45 percent of the earnings of sedentary labour migrants. One of the reasons for this poor labour situation is the low levels of human capital that the average Kuchi labour migrant is able to offer in the labour market, as virtually no Kuchi labour migrant had completed any level of education. 5.4.5 Seasonal migration While substantial numbers of Afghan workers have chosen to migrate permanently to other parts of the country, looking for work, nearly 278 thousand workers migrated for short periods of time the previous year, to work elsewhere. Of this number, only 5 percent are women. The majority of male seasonal migrants – who represent 79 percent of all male seasonal migrants – move from rural areas to work in towns 80 percent Figure 5.23 . Only 18 percent move to rural villages as seasonal migrants. However, 92 percent of male workers from Kuchi areas move to rural areas for work, whereas 85 percent of workers in urban areas move to other towns for seasonal work. In contrast, the majority of female seasonal workers 83 percent consist of Kuchi who remain in rural areas for seasonal work. Female seasonal workers residing in urban areas have only moved to other urban areas for seasonal employment. As with Afghanistan’s labour force at large, there is an overwhelming preponderance of young people in the migrant workforce moving for seasonal work. Overall, 55 percent of seasonal migrants are less than 29 years of age Figure 5.24 . About 78 percent of them are less than 39 years of age. There are no significant differences in the age characteristics of men and women migrating for seasonal work. While we have no information on the kind of work that seasonal migrants move to take up, there is information about what sort of work they usually do in their usual places of residence. The vast majority of such women usually work as unpaid family workers see Figure 5.25 . In contrast, at least half of all seasonal male workers usually work as daily labourers, 16 percent as own account workers, and 19 percent as salaried workers in the public and private sectors. 82 Figure 5.23: Male and female seasonal labour migrants, by current residence, and by place of migration for seasonal work in percentages a a. Men b. Women a Numbers in parentheses denote the proportion of people who migrated for employment in each category at national level. Figure 5.24: Seasonal labour migrants, by sex, and by age in percentages a Numbers in parentheses denote the proportion of people who migrated for employment in each category at national level. 86 28 100 14 100 72 National 100 Urban 4 Rural 13 Kuchi 83 Current residence 29 15 20 96 71 85 80 4 20 40 60 80 100 National 100 Urban 9 Rural 79 Kuchi 12 P er ce n tag e Current residence Rural destination Urban destination 14 14 22 41 41 32 23 23 24 15 15 14 5 5 7 2 3 2 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Both sexes 100 Men 95 Women 5 P er ce n tag e 14-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+ 83 Figure 5.25: Seasonal labour migrants, by sex, and by usual job status in percentages a Numbers in parentheses denote the proportion of people who migrated for employment in each category at national level.

5.5 Child labour