Rural-urban migration and the wellbeing of the migrant-sending households: an impact evaluation study

Abstract

Rural-urban migration is largely depicted as a household survival strategy, yet no studies have been conducted in South Africa, that aim to uncover its impact on the sending households. This novel study attempts to quantify the impacts of rural-urban migration on the economic and subjective wellbeing of the sending households, using the National Income Dynamics Survey data. It does so by utilising five methodologies with increasing consistency and precision, namely: Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed/Random Effects, Difference in Differences, Difference in Differences with Propensity Score Matching and Difference in Differences with Instrumental Variables, controlling for pertinent issues such as fixed effects, self-selection and endogeneity. Our econometric analysis reveals a positive correlation between migration and the subjective wellbeing of the sending household. This effect can be attributed to a range of factors discussed in the study, one of which is the positive association observed between the migration of a household member and the origin household’s economic wellbeing. This upswing in economic wellbeing is captured through an increase in the sending household’s monthly income per capita and increased remittance inflows, due to the rural-urban migration of a household member. From our analysis, we can infer that the improvement in economic wellbeing offsets the psychological effects of separation, thus leading to enhanced subjective wellbeing. In addition to increased remittance inflows, the descriptive statistics revealed another channel through which the sending household’s income per capita can be positively affected. The majority of individuals engaging in rural-urban migration are unemployed and inactive in the labour market, prior to migration, thus their departure would leave the sending household economically better off, as there would be fewer individuals to support with the household’s monetary resources