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Examining Rural Migrants Job Searching: A Case Study on Chennai Koyambedu

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Article · May 2014

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The International Journal Of Business & Management (ISSN 2321 – 8916) www.theijbm.com

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

BUSINESS & MANAGEMENT
Examining Rural Migrants Job Searching:
A Case Study on Chennai Koyambedu Daily Market
K. Kamaraj
Department of Business Administration
Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India
A. Jayakumar
Department of Business Administration
Manonmaniyam Sundranar University, Thriunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Dr. C. Kathiravan
Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration
Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract:
Migrations of rural peoples towards the urban areas are quite common now days and the migration rate is increasing
rapidly. Job searching behavior is differing from one group to another by its various backgrounds. As they are forced by
their economic problems and attracted with modern society, the migration rate is too high now. This study was carried to
know the kind of jobs that rural, migrant, uneducated peoples searching in Chennai with the sample of 486 migrant workers
from rural to urban.

Keywords: Migration, Rural, Urban, Job Search

1. Introduction
The major causes of rural urban migration are; search for better education, employment, and business opportunities. Others are
identified as poverty, unemployment, famine, and inadequate social amenities in the rural areas. While some of the effects of
rural-urban migration are; rural-urban migration brings pressure on urban housing and the environment, high rate of population
growth in the urban centres also lessens the quality of life, overpopulation encourages crime rate in the society and rural-urban
migration slows down the pace of development of the rural areas. It is recommended that the Government should strive to provide
social amenities and facilities in the rural areas and also provide jobs for the citizens in the rural areas. In addition to this
Vocational training centres should be established in the rural centres for training of the productive youths for self employment.
Migration is the movement of people from one geographical location to another, involving permanent or temporary settlement.
The region where people are leaving is referred to as the source region whereas the region to which people are entering is known
as destination region. While rural-urban migration is the movement of people from rural areas (villages) to urban centres (cities).
One noticeable aspect in the society today is the rate at which people migrate from the rural to the urban centres. While the urban
centres are increasing in population, the rural areas are decreasing in population. The migration literature has come to regard rural-
urban migration as “the major contributing factor to the ubiquitous phenomenon of urban surplus labour and as a force which
continues to exacerbate already serious urban unemployment problems” (Todaro, 1976). Population growth in urban areas has
soared over the last few decades.

2. Literature Review
According to Cornwell and Inder (2004) much of the contemporary literature on economic motivations for rural-urban migration
builds on the seminal work of Todaro (1969) and Harris and Todaro (1970). Their models has provided a widely accepted
theoretical framework that explained the relationship between rural-urban migration and urban unemployment in many LDCs.
Assuming potential migrants respond to the urban employment probability and treating rural-urban migration primarily as an
economic phenomenon, the Harris-Todaro model (HT) then demonstrates that, in certain parametric ranges, an increase in urban
employment may actually result in higher levels of urban unemployment and even reduced national product (the Todaro Paradox).
The paradox is due to the assumptions that in choosing between labour markets, risk-neutral agents consider expected wages; that
the probability of obtaining urban employment is approximated by the ratio of urban jobs to the urban labour force; and that the
urban wage rate is considerably and consistently higher than the rural wage rate. Under these assumptions, inter-labour market
(rural-urban) equilibrium mandates urban unemployment. This unemployment ensures that the expected urban wage is equal to

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The International Journal Of Business & Management (ISSN 2321 – 8916) www.theijbm.com

the rural wage (which is assumed constant throughout). The repercussion of this simple set of assumptions is that contrary to
received wisdom, once the migration response is factored in, several policies aimed at reducing urban unemployment will raise
urban unemployment rather than reduce it (Riadh, 1998).
In the HT model migration is regarded as the adjustment mechanism by which workers allocate themselves between different
labour markets, some of which are located in urban areas and some in rural areas, while attempting to maximize their expected
incomes. The model led to many applied studies most of which confirmed that the relative wages and the perceived probability of
finding a job were indeed important determinants of a decision to move. Also, the main conclusion of HT model has had
considerable influence on policy formulation in LDC’s. From the empirical point of view, the HT model generates unemployment
rates which are implausibly high. From the theoretical point of view, the model leaves its driving force, the disparity of urban and
rural wages and the fixity of urban wage, unexplained. However, the model, with or without fixed wages, can be modified in a
number of ways to introduce many interesting aspects (risk aversion, priority hiring, informal sector, travel costs) which probably
will reduce the level of unemployment as predicted by the starting model.
One of the predictions of HT model was that the proportional equilibrium size of the urban traditional sector will vary inversely
with the rate of job creation. Arellano (1981) indicated that this prediction refers to the steady state and is warranted by a specific
assumption about the elasticity of the migration rate.

3. Methodology
A case study design was adopted in this research where Chennai Koyambedu market was chosen as a case study. The data for this
study were mainly collected in areas where most of the people have migrated from rural areas. A random sampling method was
used to select the respondents. A total of 486 respondents were involved in the study. Primary data for the study were gathered by
using structured questionnaires and interviews. Since the respondents are in working zone the prepared questionnaire has very few
objectives i.e
 Causes for migration from rural to urban
 Kind of job they are searching in Chennai city.

4. Results and Discussion

MIGRANTS
Frequency Percentage
Gender
Male 417 85.8
Female 69 14.2
Age
Below 30 years 177 36.4
30 to 40 years 209 43
40 to 50 years 78 16
Above 50 years 22 4.6

Income (In Rupees)

Less than 5000 38 7.8
5001-10000 226 46.5
10001-15000 115 23.7
15001-20000 103 21.4
Above 20000 3 0.6
Table 1
Source: Primary Data

4.1. Gender Distribution of Respondents

Survey data revealed that 85.8% of the respondents are males while 14.2% were females. This shows that male migrants constitute
the majority among the migrants in Chennai City.

4.2. Age Distribution of Respondents

Findings from the study showed that 36.4% of the respondents fell within the age group of below 30 years, 43% are within the age
group of 31-40 years while 16% are within the age bracket of 41-50 years and above. And 4.6% peoples are belong to 50 & above
age groups.

4.3. Income in Rupees

Findings from the study also indicate that 7.8% of the respondents got salary up to Rs5000, 46.5% rural migrants getting Rs5001 -
1000. While 23% of rural workers getting income Rs 10001 to 15000. About 21% of the respondents earned Rs15001-20000.
0.6% of people earning above 20000 in a month.

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The International Journal Of Business & Management (ISSN 2321 – 8916) www.theijbm.com

4.4. Causes of Rural-Urban migration

The major causes of rural-urban migration is identified as; search for better wages, education, political and social stability, better
technologies, employment and business opportunities. Others are poverty, unemployment, crop failures and famine, inadequate
social amenities and facilities in the rural areas such as pipe borne water, electricity, good roads, hospitals, schools, vocational
centres.

5. Kind of Job Searching by Rural Uneducated Migrants

5.1. Rural Based job search in city

In beginning time rural migrants are searching job which is fully rural based i.e jobs like load man, construction workers, and
other works. These kinds of jobs always welcome the rural migrants to enter. It is because of the job need high level of physical
effort. And with the help of this experience they are trying to be part of supervisor role in the same industry. In addition to this
some workers started their own business like selling vegetables, fruits near roads and inside the streets of city. However the
success rate is too low due to several factors of city and the rural migrants.

5.2. Urban based job search in city

Rural migrants are planned to search urban based job in their later phase of job searching. Which take place after surviving some
period of time in any industry, absorbing the city properly and with the help of network they created in their past. Urban
organizations are not ready to provide any fair income jobs to the rural uneducated migrants. Hence they are creating their own
job with the small amount of investment like founding their own shops and the age old peoples involved in security jobs in the
city.

6. Conclusion
This study reveals human sources of rural migrants were not used properly and the city is not designed to avail required space to
the rural uneducated migrants from different parts of Tamil Nadu. The rate of rural-urban migration is alarming in recent years
and its effects are not only felt by the destination regions alone but also felt by the source regions-as facilities in the destination
regions are overstretched, the source regions are virtually deserted. Unless the government provides the basic necessities of life to
the rural areas and provide the productive youth in the rural areas with employment opportunities people will continuously drift in
to the urban centres from the rural areas in search for better life and employment.

7. References
1. Amano, M. (1983): "On the Harris-Todaro Model with Intersectoral Migration of Labour," Economica : 311-323.
2. Arellano, J. P. (1981): "Do More Jobs in the Modern Sector Increase Urban Unemployment?” Journal of Development
Economics, 8: 241-247.
3. Banerjee, B. (1981): "Rural-Urban Migration and Family Ties: an Analysis of Family Considerations in Migration
Behaviour in India", Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, November: 321-355.
4. Barlett,W. (1983): "On the Dynamic Instability of Induced-Migration Unemployment in a Dual Economy," Journal of
Development Economics, 13, pp.85-96.
5. Collier, P. and D., Lal (1984): "Why Poor People get Rich Kenya: 1960-1979", World Development, vol. 12, N°10:1007-
1018.
6. Cornwell, K. and Inder, B. (2004) Migration and Unemployment in South Africa: When Motivation Surpasses the
Theory. Australia; Monash University.
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9. Fields, G. S. (1989): "On-the-Job Search in a Labour Market Model: Ex ante Choices and Ex-post Outcomes," Journal of
Development Economics, 30: 159-178.
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119-121.
11. Mohtadi, H. (1989): "Migration and Job Search in a Dualistic Economy: A Todaro-Stigler Synthesis", Economics
Letters, 29: 373-378.
12. Neary,J. P. (1988): "Stability of the Mobile Capital Harris-Todaro Model : Some Further Results," Economica, Vol. 48,
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The Journal of Developing Areas, 20, April: 339-356.

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18. Vishwanath, T. (1991): "Information Flow, Job Search and Migration", Journal of Development Economics, 36: 313-335

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