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The labour market impacts of female internal migration: Evidence from the end of Apartheid

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  • Sharp, Matthew

Abstract

Women often migrate within developing countries for different reasons than men and female migrants tend to be very differently distributed across economic sectors as compared to male migrants. This paper provides some of the first evidence on the labour market impacts of female internal migration, examining effects in both the productive and household sectors. I merge large sample migration data from South African censuses with detailed labour force survey data, and exploit substantial time-variation in female migrant inflows into over 200 districts. To identify the causal effects of migration on labour market outcomes, I make use of the unique history of South Africa to construct a plausibly exogenous shift-share instrument for female migrant concentration based on earlier male migration flows from reserves during the Apartheid period. I firstly find that this migration increases the employment and hours worked of high-skilled women (but not men). I demonstrate that this effect is driven by substitution in household work as many female migrants find work as domestic helpers. I also find that female migration leads to a (short-term) reduction in the employment of low-skilled female non-migrants suggesting an increase in competition at the bottom of the economic ladder.

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  • Sharp, Matthew, 2021. "The labour market impacts of female internal migration: Evidence from the end of Apartheid," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:91:y:2021:i:c:s0166046220303094
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103624
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    Cited by:

    1. Fatemeh Hamedanian, 2022. "Access to the European Labor Market for Immigrant Women in the Wake of the COVID Pandemic," World, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-22, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Internal migration; Economics of gender; Natural experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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