Publication: Managed Labor Migration in Afghanistan: Experience and Evidence with International Afghan Labor Mobility at Micro Level
Date
2018-01
ISSN
Published
2018-01
Author(s)
Garrote Sanchez, Daniel
Abstract
This paper analyzes Afghanistan’s
migration phenomenon from a microeconomic perspective. Given
the elevated pressures in the labor market, a common tool to
sustain livelihoods is migration, affecting 16 percent of
Afghan households, both current migrants and returnees.
Compared to nonmigrants, returnees are more educated and
have higher earnings, while the opposite is true for
out-migrants. For most of them, remittances represent a
supplement to their income, particularly for those families
that currently have a member abroad. Comparing earnings of
Afghans abroad to those of similar workers in Afghanistan,
wide wage gaps are observed, creating strong pull factors
for migration. A strong self-selection of migrants also
occurs across countries. Overall, migration represents an
opportunity to improve livelihoods, although under its
current form it does not incentivize upskilling, as most
irregular Afghans find jobs in neighboring countries like
Iran in low-skilled sectors where returns to education are low.
Citation
“Garrote Sanchez, Daniel. 2018. Managed Labor Migration in Afghanistan; Managed Labor Migration in Afghanistan : Experience and Evidence with International Afghan Labor Mobility at Micro Level. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29276 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”