Rural-urban migration
Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 4 "Human Capital Formation in India"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues"
Meaning
Rural-urban migration means workers moving from villages to towns and cities. People are pushed by unemployment and low incomes in villages. They are pulled by development and jobs in cities. It is part of the expected path of development: labour moves from agriculture to industry and services, and from rural to urban areas. In India it is often seasonal.
Example
In the lean farm season, when there is no work in the fields, villagers move to towns to work in construction or trade. Many return home when the rains begin and sowing starts.
Don't confuse with
- Reverse migration: this is the opposite flow, from cities back to villages, as seen in the 2020 COVID lockdown.
- Circular migration: in circular migration, workers repeatedly go and return without settling. Rural-urban migration can also be permanent.
Related concepts
- Unemployment
- Open unemployment
- Disguised unemployment
- Underemployment
- Seasonal unemployment
- Educated unemployment
- Youth unemployment
- Circular migration
- Distress migration
- Reverse migration