Working Papers 2004 – Abstracts
Migration and Unemployment in South Africa: When Motivation Surpasses
the Theory
Katy Cornwell and Brett Inder
This paper looks at the connection between internal
migration and unemployment in South Africa. We examine whether rural-urban
migrants are more likely to be unemployed, in informal sector employment
or underemployed than non-migrants. We build on standard economic theory
to predict that rates of unemployment and of participation in the informal
sector ought to be much higher for migrants than for non-migrants. The
empirical evidence we present, based on the 1993 and 1994 October Household
Surveys, provides only some support for this theory. Results suggest that
compared to job seeking non-migrants, recent migrants do well at finding
formal employment, and are much less likely to be unemployed.
Keywords: Africa, South Africa, Unemployment, Informal Sector,
Rural-Urban Migration, Labour Turnover
