Internal migration and structural changes in the labour force

This research was carried out as activities of a project on in-depth analysis of internal migration data for selected Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) countries, implemented by the ESCAP Population Division and the UN Population Fund. The research reported in this volume was conducted for the Republic of Korea and Thailand because both countries have published a special volume of migration tables based on their 1980 population and housing censuses. In addition, survey data on labor force status and occupation prior to and after migration to urban or rural areas were available for both countries. For at least the last 2 decades the population of the Republic of Korea has been exceptionally mobile, both in terms of residence and employment. During that time the structure of the economy has changed greatly, and internal migration has contributed disproportionately to that change. 62% of the increase in employed persons in urban areas between 1975 and 1980 was attributable to net in-migration. It may be fair to conclude that internal migration has permitted the rapid growth and restructuring of Korea's economy and that measures to slow it would probably be expensive and counter-productive. The growth of the urban labor force is primarily attributable to in-migration while decline in the rural labor force is not primarily due to out-migration as most migrants to urban areas are not in the labor force before migrating. Females typically experience greater labor force mobility than males, although at lower levels. 91% of the increase in female urban employment between 1975 and 1980 was attributable to net rural-urban migration. The Labour Force Surveys in Thailand reported that the urban labor force increased by 1.1 million persons between 1975 and 1980. Net migration accounted for 13% of this increase or 142,000 persons. The impact of migration on growth of the labor force varies greatly by occupation. About 44% of the growth in the number of service workers in urban areas was due to net migration. Females in Thailand have particularly high labor force participation and migration rates relative to males. A major policy recommendation resulting from this study is that employment opportunities be dispersed from Bangkok Metropolis to other municipal and non-municipal areas.