Labour Market Outcomes of Itinerant Workers in Rural India

This paper examines the characteristics, wages and mobility of short-term migrants in India using a nationally representative database on migration. We find that an individual is more likely to be a short-term migrant if he or she is from a district with a higher concentration of workers in the construction industry. Using instrumental variable method, we find that short-term migrants are likely to earn lower wages compared with non-short-term migrants. Finally, we model the transition of short-term migrant workers from one sector to another, drawing on the literature on income and occupational mobility. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.