Why People Migrate

Abstract

Individuals migrate because they think that they can improve their own lives or those of their families by doing so. Economic migration is triggered by the knowledge (or belief) that better economic opportunities exist in some other place. It follows that where regional and local economic inequality is considerable, people are likely to migrate if it is possible for them to do so. Factors such as poverty, lack of economic opportunity, land shortage and low living standards at home function as push factors, while prosperity, opportunity, available employment and higher living standards in the place of destination are pull factors. The individual’s decision to migrate involves a process of weighing up potential costs and benefits.¹ Migrants have to consider general factors such as the cost of travel and accommodation, the chances of finding work and the prevailing wage rates in the destination area compared with those in the home area. They will also be swayed by individual factors such as contacts with relatives or friends in the destination areas, or the potential effect of their absence on the household left behind. Knowledge of conditions elsewhere is important in migration decisions and therefore modern communications play a significant role. Potential migrants may learn of opportunities from the media, from television images or from returnees.

The very first year we farmed our contract land the crops failed. The grain we got was next to nothing — never mind paying our taxes, it wasn’t even enough to keep belly from backbone. That’s why there’s so many of us trying to make a living in the city this year. Some of the men pop corn and some of them are in construction teams putting up buildings for the government. The women have gone to the cities as maids. None of us are beggars, at least none from our village. … We leave the village to work and make money. … We started working when we got to Hefei. We worked there for a week and then made enough for our fares to Beijing. Making money in the big cities is easy.

(Child migrant from Anhui interviewed in Beijing in 1984. Zhang and Sang 1986: 3–7)