Migration, School Attainment and Child Labour: Evidence from Rural Pakistan
Author(s): G. Mansuri
This paper examines the impact of temporary economic migration by a household member on investments in child schooling. Considering the fact that a substantial number of migrant households are female headed, the study looks at how variations in household structure among migrants influence schooling choices, and in particular, how it influences the gender allocation of labour and of schooling among migrant children. The study is based on the Pakistan Rural Household Survey (PRHS) 2001-2002 that contains detailed household and individual characteristics, including demographics, occupation, health, education, investments, assets, household expenditure and the migration experience of all household members. The paper starts with a presentation of some preliminary evidence on gender differences in educational attainment and labour market activity of school age children. The results of the analysis demonstrate a significant positive effect of migration on school attainment and child labour market activity in rural Pakistan. The evidence suggests that children in migrant households are not only more likely to attend school, they are also more likely to stay in school and accumulate more years of schooling in comparison to their counterparts in non-migrant households in the same village. They are also less likely to be involved in economic work and report working for substantially fewer hours. Finally, the paper finds evidence for large gender differentials in terms of gains from migration, with relative gains for girls outstripping those for boys by a good margin, and a substantial net reduction in gender inequalities in terms of access to education. Female headship appears to protect boys at the cost of girls. Girls in such households are significantly more likely to drop out of schooling and they lose most of the benefits of migration of longer schooling as well.