The labour market impacts of female internal migration: Evidence from the end of Apartheid

Matthew Sharp

No 2021-01, CSAE Working Paper Series from Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford

Abstract: Women often migrate within developing countries for different reasons than men and female migrants tend to be very differently distributed across economic sectors as compared to male migrants. This paper provides some of the first evidence on the labour market impacts of female internal migration, examining effects in both the productive and household sectors. I merge large sample migration data from South African censuses with detailed labour force survey data, and exploit substantial time-variation in female migrant inflows into over 200 districts. To identify the causal effects of migration on labour market outcomes, I make use of the unique history of South Africa to construct a plausibly exogenous shift-share instrument for female migrant concentration based on earlier male migration flows from reserves during the Apartheid period. I firstly find that this migration increases the employment and hours worked of high-skilled women (but not men). I demonstrate that this effect is driven by substitution in household work as many female migrants find work as domestic helpers. I also find that female migration leads to a (short-term) reduction in the employment of low-skilled female non-migrants suggesting an increase in competition at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Keywords: internal migration; economics of gender; natural experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J22 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:csa:wpaper:2021-01

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