Labour migration and migrants in urban Ghana

Obeng-Odoom, F; Jang, HS

Labour migration and migrants in urban Ghana

Obeng-Odoom, F

Jang, HS

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: International Development and Cooperation Review, 2016, 8 (1), pp. 107 - 135
Issue Date:: 2016-05-10

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Obeng-Odoom, F https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3997-7751	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Jang, HS	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-05-10	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	International Development and Cooperation Review, 2016, 8 (1), pp. 107 - 135	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	2005-9620	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43769
dc.description.abstract	The persistent increase in the number of people working or living on the streets in Ghana, and the resulting surge in the government of Ghana’s interest in urban streetism necessitate a study of the phenomenon and provide an opportunity to ascertain the recent claim by social economists that the institutional-structuralist approach to migration research is superior to the neoclassical and new economics of labour migration (NELM) approach for which limited empirical research at the urban level has been conducted. Drawing on published ethnographic studies and on a synthesis of other published existing data interpreted within the broad methodology of institutional-structuralism, the paper shows that neither the decision to migrate nor the decision to return is based on individual calculations alone. Similarly, rural poverty does not provide sufficient explanation for rural-urban migration. There are clearly push and pull factors in the process of migration, but these are institutional and structural rather than individual and household based. The experiences of migrants on streets in urban centres are diverse but most of them are underemployed rather than unemployed. Most intend to return to their origins, but whether they do so, when, and how are conditioned by the class of migrants and changing social institutions such as property rights that pertain in both the rural and urban contexts. For these reasons, policies framed around the assumptions in mainstream analysis of labour migration such as removing urban bias and enhancing rural development have merely re-enforced the process of uneven urban and regional development.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	International Development and Cooperation Review	en_US
dc.title	Labour migration and migrants in urban Ghana	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	8	en_US
utslib.for	1605 Policy and Administration	en_US
utslib.for	1205 Urban and Regional Planning	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	8	en_US

Abstract:

The persistent increase in the number of people working or living on the streets in Ghana, and the resulting surge in the government of Ghana’s interest in urban streetism necessitate a study of the phenomenon and provide an opportunity to ascertain the recent claim by social economists that the institutional-structuralist approach to migration research is superior to the neoclassical and new economics of labour migration (NELM) approach for which limited empirical research at the urban level has been conducted. Drawing on published ethnographic studies and on a synthesis of other published existing data interpreted within the broad methodology of institutional-structuralism, the paper shows that neither the decision to migrate nor the decision to return is based on individual calculations alone. Similarly, rural poverty does not provide sufficient explanation for rural-urban migration. There are clearly push and pull factors in the process of migration, but these are institutional and structural rather than individual and household based. The experiences of migrants on streets in urban centres are diverse but most of them are underemployed rather than unemployed. Most intend to return to their origins, but whether they do so, when, and how are conditioned by the class of migrants and changing social institutions such as property rights that pertain in both the rural and urban contexts. For these reasons, policies framed around the assumptions in mainstream analysis of labour migration such as removing urban bias and enhancing rural development have merely re-enforced the process of uneven urban and regional development.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/43769