Developmental economic
Introduction to the Report
Rapid changes are being observed in our socio-economic structure. Inflation, influx of migrants, rapid industrialization, urbanization and other similar factors contribute to changes. Age old custom, values, traditions are breaking down. Sociologically we may conclude that our culture is changing and one basic reason for this change is the transformation of our economics. The modern world is the world of urbanization, industrialization and social change.
Pakistan is expected to be urbanized and thus, industrialized with the development of factories and the establishment of industries. This can be felt all over the country.
The acceleration in growth of cities, the correlation between size of city, its growth and the inclination towards industrial and commercial expansion indicates that urbanization in Pakistan is gaining momentum and with it acting as a major pull factor for people living in much less developed regions of the country.
Increasing population density, worsening unemployment figures, burdening the resources of already over populated cities, causing social chaos are only a few of the much widespread effects of Rural-Urban Migration.
Scope of Report
The first section of this report introduces the subject of study and outlines the theme of discussion.
A comprehensive and widely accepted definition of Migration, the forces behind it and its pros and cons will be methodically discussed.
All information has been supported with the sufficient use of statistics.
The case of migration in correlation to urbanization will be discussed with emphasis on the sectors of Employment and Education in the second half of the report. All data is part of primary and secondary research. Relevant statistics attained from the official sources of The Federal Statistics Bureau of Pakistan have been appropriately used to establish facts and explain the impacts of all existing trends.
Specifically, as part of primary research, a focus group was conducted with the aim of understanding the outlook and socio-economic expectations of those who have migrated to Karachi from rural areas.
To gain further insight, Ms. Mahvesh Jogezai, a patron of the NGO, “This Way Left” was consulted for an expert opinion. A synopsis of her opinion on the current situation of migration in correlation to urbanization, is a later part of the report.
As members of this research project, we, based on our findings have also provided a framework of recommendations and policies which we believe should be inculcated and would help control this problem of rural-urban migration and the other issues coupled with it.
Introduction to the Variable: Migration
Migration can be defined as the displacement of a person who leaves their place of birth or of residence for another place. Human Migration may take place in large groups as well as when a single person moves from one place to another to take up permanent or semi-permanent residence in an area other than his native district.
According to the United Nations Development Program’s, Human Development Report published in 2009; there are almost 1 billion migrants in the world – that is 1 out of every 7 persons is a migrant.
Human migration occurs at a variety of scales:
Inter-continental: between continents
Intra-continental: between countries on a given continent
Inter-regional: within countries
One of the most significant migration patterns has been of rural to urban migration—the movement of people from the countryside to cities in search of opportunities.
Of the 1 billion people in the world who migrate; almost 740 million are internal migrants - almost four times the number of international migrants.
Pakistan to date has a population of 167965000 people, of which over 10829264 are migrants. Of these 10829264 people, 6908835 people are rural urban migrants, that is, almost 64% of the total migrant population in Pakistan has been transferred from rural areas to metropolitan cities.
ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT
AREA
( SQ. KM.)
POPULATION 1998
POPULATION DENSITY PER SQ. KM. PROPORTION
Number
Percentage
URBAN
RURAL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
PAKISTAN
796096
132352279
100.00
166.3
32.5
67.5
N W F P *
74521
17743645
13.41
238.1
16.9
83.1
FATA **
27220
3176331
2.40
116.7
2.7
97.3
PUNJAB
205345
73621290
55.63
358.5
31.3
68.7
SINDH
140914
30439893
23.00
216
48.8
51.2
BALOCHISTAN
347190
6565885
4.96
18.9
23.9
76.1
ISLAMABAD
906
805235
0.61
888.8
65.7
34.3
Pakistan is a developing country that has experienced rapid rural-urban migration in the last thirty years. Due to lack of employment opportunities and insufficient income from farming in rural areas, migrating to the urban is one of the limited options available to poor villagers.
Causes Of Rural Urban Migration
From the perspective of the migrants, the main cause for settlement in cities is to earn more to send the money back in their villages to the families they have left behind, to provide better educational prospects to their children, to provide better health and sanitation facilities to their families, to get better employment opportunities, to repay their debts and emerge out of the misery of poverty. There is an apparent increase in the urban labor market activity, considerable decrease in poverty and a significant difference in the perceived wage rate of the urban and rural areas.
The migrant typically leaves his wife and children behind initially and sends money to them from the city to provide for their basic necessities. He then returns back to the village during peak agricultural season. Being able to bring his family to the city is considered a milestone by him. Migration is simply an escape from his problems.
Another very obvious factor that enhances the tendency of rural to urban migration is the vast network effect. Once the initial process of migration from one village to a city has started, it is followed by streams of migrants. This is due to their connections in the cities; having your relatives, friends or family at the urban destination makes it easier for you to migrate. They may help you find suitable and affordable accommodation, they may help you find a decent job and adjust in the new environment. This positively impacts the perceived return of migration for the rural man.
Karachi is one of the most urbanized cities in Pakistan. It is the only modern and progressive city in Sindh. From the perspective of an urban city center, there are many factors that draw migrants to that city. Karachi being the provincial capital attracts many people from the interior Sindh. The boom in the construction industry also boosted the rural urban migration because more housing units were being built.
Another point of attraction was the expansion of the fishing industry in Karachi. An additional external factor included the expansion of agriculture in the Punjab and Bahawalpur due to development in the irrigation system causing an increase in the production of cotton. This resulted in augmentation of the port related businesses and drew more migrants towards the Southern part of Sindh.
The above given table, provides figures from the 1998 census for migration according to rationale, classified on the basis of province.
As can be seen in the table, the highest weightage is of the population that “Moves with the Head”. Sindh having a 49.13%, Punjab 38%, NWFP 57.51% and Balochistan 43.85%. Whereas people moving for reasons of “Employment” are comparatively much less in number. Sindh having a 15.78%, Punjab 9.06%, NWFP 16.53 and Balochistan 24.15%.
To justify this vast difference in figures it is necessary to understand that when the family head, in the case of Pakistan, usually males, migrate to urban centres in search of employment opportunities and a better standard of living, their families usually migrate with them if not later ( approximately a period of 6 months). Therefore, a higher percentage of people migrate under the head of “Moving with the Head”. With an average family size of 7.5 persons in the context of a single male coming to a metropolitan city in hope of finding a better standard of living, brings with him, on an average, atleast 6.5 persons of which 5.5 are under the legal age of employment therefore a higher dependency ratio.
A huge percentage of the Pakistani population migrates due to personal and social reasons such as Marriage. Due to the improvement in transport networks, construction of roads, highways which connect rural cities to urban hubs a great percentage of people are noted to travel to and from which obviously contributes to the high rural to urban migratory pattern; which simultaneously increases marriage trends. Females living in rural areas are married to men working in big cities. Such trends result in entire families migrating to urban centers.
Pros and Cons of Rural Urban Migration in Pakistan
Rural-Urban migration in Pakistan has resulted in many positive as well as negative effects. Many of these effects can already be seen; others have the potential to appear in our economy.
Pros:
Many people would say that Rural to Urban migration in Pakistan is a good way of inculcating progress in the economy. Following the Lewis’s model of the Two-Sector economy, the basic and the most major advantage Rural to Urban migration brings about in the economy is the transfer of surplus labour from the traditional agrarian sector to the modern industrial sector the country. This is that kind of labour that is not doing any productive work in the agricultural area. So migration of that labour from that sector to the modern sector, training them and using them in the organized city work helps create a better labour force.
Rural to Urban migration has also helped increase the level of income of the average person living in the rural sector. If the worker/laborer had stayed in his village, he may not have earned that much income as to what he was able to earn in the city. Migration enabled him to earn more, thus satisfying more of his needs. This has improved the level of that migrant who was originally numbered among the poor and is now living above the poverty line. Hence there is a fairly uniform agreement that both internal and international migrations help in absolute poverty reduction.
There is significant proof that where migration has occurred the consequent amount of poverty reduction has been substantial. And the places that have remained isolated from migration remain among the poorest in the country.
Where the workers migrate from their rural villages to the city, they have more opportunities to transfer funds and resources that they accumulate in the urban cities to their rural homes thus enabling development of their home community. This means that there is a potential of trickle down of benefits through a multiplier effect.
Migration may also enhance intergenerational socioeconomic mobility, though this remains to be explored. This means that there is more probability that due to migration the income prospects of the children of the migrants is much better than that of their parents.
Migration may also in an indirect manner effect the people of the rural areas. If the individuals from very distant villages are not able to move into town themselves, they may however participate in a chain of replacement migration, moving into those rural areas from which migrants are drawn into town or overseas. This means that individuals from extremely remote areas may end up migrating to less remote villages taking a small step towards moving into the city.
Migration provides individuals migrating from poor areas better level of living, better sanitation and health facilities, better job and educational opportunities and better access to electricity and water facilities.
It has been observed that people migrating from the rural areas to the cities have better chances of survival than they would have had if they had stayed in the village. Rural life is full of diseases and malnourishment. This is one of the major reasons why people want to move away from those areas. Once they enter the city, they have access to better and effective medicines and treatments that would give them more chances of avoiding diseases.
It has been discovered that children of migrant families have a lower infant mortality rate and higher birth weight. Since mothers in the migrant families acquire better knowledge regarding health and nutrition, they are better able to give birth to healthy babies lowering the infant mortality rate. These babies have better chances of staying alive and remain healthy. Apart from this, migrant mothers also spread their health related knowledge in their home villages indirectly improving the child health among those non-migrant families also.
Employment related Rural to urban migration and changing social structure of the economy has also enhanced the preferences towards more nuclear families thus decreasing the household size. This would mean more affordability. Where one breadwinner initially had to support a large family now has to support lesser individuals. This way he is able to provide larger proportions of income to each of his family members.
There is also considerable evidence that the remittances resulting from rural urban migration are often spent on school fees. There is supporting evidence that remittance incomes are positively correlated with education enrolment. This means that the urban income earned by the migrants is being spent on improving the quality of education of their children.
It has also been observed that migration has helped people in solving their small problems like paying off of debts.
Cons:
Migration in some contexts has posed a problem in the economy. A few years ago this migration trend was beneficial for the economy. However during the current recession period almost every company/organization has undergone downsizing resulting in a huge level of unemployment. Where the labour force from the interior used to come to the city for work; now there is no work available for the labour force that is already present in the cities. Even considering the largest and fastest growing cohort in Pakistan i.e. the young individuals between the ages of 15 to 25, majority of this youth presently remains unemployed. There emerges a risk of the energies of these young adults to be directed towards other less appropriate activities because their energies are not being utilized productively.
Migration has also increased the burden on the deteriorating economy of our country. The resources of the most urbanised cities of Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Faisalabad are being more and more divided over the increasing population. There is an increasing demand of the general public services that the economy is not being able to meet.
This increasing gap between the demand and supply of the general public services has given rise to a lot of frustration and an increase in the crime rate. The ever escalating rural to urban migration is flooding the capacity of the urban city to provide employment and the basic necessities to these migrants. These migrants come to the city with lots of expectations of a better life which are ultimately not met. This instils in them a feeling of deprivation and disappointment which eventually leads to violent and aggressive behaviour, criminal acts and emotional turmoil. It is not the only reason for the increasing crime rate in our country, which includes mobile and car snatching and trafficking of drugs; however rural urban migration may be considered as one of the major reasons for the augmenting crime rates in Karachi.
Another related problem is the identity crisis. These migrants have to undergo a lot of adjustments both socially and mentally when they enter a new city with an entirely different environment, lifestyle, language, mannerisms etc. They have to give up a lot of their past habits due to which they often indulge in an identity crisis. Due to this very reason, they become vulnerable and end up joining political and religious extremist groups.
Excessive migration trends have resulted in an increase in the urban population by 3.54% per year. In addition to this, in Karachi, where population rises at 6% per annum, urban services expand by only 1.2%. This means that there is a mounting need for new housing facilities, transportation facilities, water, sewage and electricity facilities and health and sanitation and security facilities. In a very short span of time, with such increasing needs and saturation in the urban cities, the Pakistan economy will not be able to keep up with these new demands.
Distribution of resources over a larger and increasing population has led to acute power and water shortages in the country and especially in Karachi. Such electricity failures in return directly affect the everyday activities of the city and frustrate the citizens. The transportation sector is also not being able to cope with the increasing demand of the public transport facilities.
Since planning of the infrastructure and housing units has always been reactive rather than anticipatory, lack of proper housing space and less affordability of such facilities in the urban cities has led to emergence of slums and squatter settlements in the major cities. This means unlawful residences, or “jhoonpris / katchi abadis” spring up in some areas of the cities. These areas then become the cultivation point of different diseases as well as crimes.
The increase in the number of migrants also results in congestion, pollution, extreme traffic hassles, overpopulation and suffocation. The road networks and the housing schemes in Karachi are not designed to accommodate such a large number of people. Currently the government is only being able to meet about one-eighth of the total per year housing demand in the city. Still they are constantly trying to fit into these cities in congested small apartments and other small houses. This has lead to a major issue of traffic jams on the streets of Karachi.
The health and educational system in Karachi is also not that diverse to accommodate such a large number of people. Even if the migrants do earn a bit more, some of them are still not able to afford the hospital fees or the expenses of medicines for their children. The hospitals have been made according to the population of Karachi, but this population is increasing everyday and is resulting in more patients and less doctors. Apart from this, the children of migrants almost always end up in government schools which are overcrowded and do not offer quality education or even the basic facilities like a proper class room, benches or stationery.
Due to lack of opportunities, people leave the pollution free environments and less costly houses in their rural villages and migrate to urban cities where finding a house at an affordable rate is becoming increasingly difficult with real estate agents imposing their terms on the individuals.
The migrants have taken up even the petty jobs available in the informal sector of the cities, like bus conductors, drivers, and shopkeepers etc. leaving very little jobs for the city people. Rural to urban migration in this way has directly augmented the unemployment process.
Due to migration there has become more parental absence in the rural areas. Fathers being the head of the house move to the cities to earn leaving their women and children back in the villages. This results in less supervision of the children with respect to their school attendance, basic learning at home and other activities. Presence of mothers does not have much influence on the sons because the value of women in the rural areas is next to nothing. In some cases the extended family may replace the absent fathers; however the probability of this happening is very low.
In the same regard, the absence of fathers may also put pressure on the young children to quit their schools and take up work to support the family’s basic needs.
It is also a fact that in case of children migrating from the rural areas, they are more likely to migrate from communities with higher migration propensities. But these children, not having that much education or schooling, are not able to find decent jobs and end up living on the streets of the urban cities.
Economic growth and consequent urban migration have caused changes in preferences towards more nuclear families. This has caused a perceptible lowering of the household size. As a result there has been an increase in the area requirements and a demand for more housing units which may very soon lead to saturation of housing space in Karachi.
It may also be said that rural to urban migration is also one of the reasons for the increase in the number of beggars on the streets of Karachi. This is a commonly observed and an apparent consequence of all of the above mentioned implications of migration.
Urbanization
The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. According to recent figures more than half of the world’s population is living in urban towns and cities. Economists estimate that by the year 2030, almost 5 billion will be living in these urban centers.
Pakistan being the world’s 7th most over populated country is undergoing extreme urbanization such that it is becoming burdensome for the Government to control the many negativities attached with it.
With rapid industrialization taking place in Pakistan, urbanization is an inevitable phenomenon.
Urbanization is not just a side effect of economic growth; it is an integral part of the process, according to the World Bank. With the vigorous economic growth averaging 7 percent and availability of millions of new jobs created between 2000 and 2008, there has been increased rural to urban migration in Pakistan to take advantage of the in growing job opportunities in the manufacturing and service sectors.
The level of urbanization in Pakistan is now the highest in South Asia, and its urban population is likely to equal its rural population by 2030, according to a report titled ‘Life in the City: Pakistan in Focus’, released by the United Nations Population Fund.
The urban population now contributes about 75% of Pakistan's GDP and nearly the entire of the government’s revenue. The industrial sector contributes over 27% of the GDP, 19% is contributed by agriculture, while service sector contributes the rest of the 54%.
According to the Population Census 1998, it can be seen that the highest growth in cities in context to urbanization has been noted in Islamabad 5.76 %, Larkana 4.69%, Rahim Yar Khan 4.04%, Sheikhupura 4.11%, Quetta 4.09%, Karachi 3.49% and Lahore 3.32 %.
Karachi, Lahore and Quetta being provincial capitals and Islamabad being the Federal capital have acted as major pull factors for people living in adjoining rural areas. Big, metropolitan cities like Karachi and Lahore are dream cities for people living in the rural areas all over the country.
According to an American research company, Karachi is known as Pakistan’s “lifeline”. With a contribution of 25% to the country’s GDP, “Karachi is one of the most over crowded cities of the world”.
There are many issues caused by the current wave of urbanization. Foremost being the massive increase urban population due to mass rural urban migration.
The over population of urban cities like Karachi and Lahore is the root of their very problems. The creation of more and more urban slums, increased environmental corrosion, and the tremendous pressures on civic services which are already strained and suffering beyond limits due to political instability and weak government policies.
OVERVIEW OF EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN PAKISTAN
For the period of 2007/2008, Pakistan’s economy has been a drastic year which has experienced several conditions of turmoil; intricate political conditions, law and order risks, supply shocks and soaring oil, hiked prices of food and other commodities. Despite these transitions, Pakistan showed a vigorous growth of 5.8 per cent against 6.8 per cent growth in 2006/2007. The renewed employment policy framework in combination with this growth rate in recent years has the potential of providing an edge to the labor market i.e. a move towards the better realization of full and productive employment and decent work for all.
As employment has always been a problem for our country, the recent analysis of labor market trends indicates that substantial improvements have been achieved in Pakistan; especially with regard to employment opportunities and equity at work. However, a wide number of challenges still prevail ahead of us in order to achieve target of “full and productive employment and decent work for all”.
The following table shows the employment, unemployment and labor force participation rates (of people aged 15+) which have changed in line with the economic growth of the country in recent years.
SELECTED KEY INDICATORS OF THE LABOUR MARKET
According to this table, there is a decline in the labor participation force of 0.5 percentage points for the 15+ population. The reason behind this decline lies in the fact that the male participation rates had declined so much so that it had almost gotten on par with the participation rates measured between 1999/2000 and 2003/2004. Conversely, the female participation rate has continued to ascend since the very beginning of the decade, with a very small increase of 0.2 percentage points in the most recent survey year.
Similarly, the above mentioned table displays information about the unemployment rates in the recent years. The standard definition that is used to measure the number of unemployed is “those individuals without work, seeking work in a recent past period and currently available for work. Labor market analysts often promote the measurement of unemployment according to the “relaxed definition”, meaning relaxing the criterion of seeking work, in situations in which the application of this criterion is likely to underestimate the untapped human resources of a country.”
In Pakistan, the unemployment rate is measured on the basis of the above mentioned definition. In 2006/2007 it reached an historical low of 5.1 per cent, a 2.1 percentage point decline since 1999/2000, despite the increases in labor force participation since the beginning of the decade.
Despite these employment problems, women have particularly benefited from the overall labor market developments in the country. The female unemployment rate at 8.6 per cent in 2006/2007, the lowest in recent years, should be seen in combination with an increase in the female labor force participation rate by 5.0 percentage points since 1999/2000. These positive amplifications are, to a large extent, due to the increased awareness and the courage of women of stepping into the labor market. It’s basically an introduction of positioning the young women in the labor market.
The increasing share of industry over agriculture in terms of total employment and GDP is experienced due to the fact that Pakistan’s labor market is going through a structural change. Even though, the declining share of agriculture in GDP is experienced since 1999/2000, the agricultural employment share is increasing in the recent years.
The existing labor market indicators suggest that however, there are gains in the employment opportunities as reflected in labor force participation and in employment with regard to high population ratios and unemployment rates, this structural transformation is not yet benefiting the majority of workers who lack decent employment due to the increased demand. Work in the informal economy increased from 65 per cent of non-agricultural employment in 1999/2000 to 71.5 per cent in 2006/2007. During the same period, wage and salaried employment increased by only 2.4 percentage points of the employed (15+), and the size of the status group of own-account workers decreased by more than seven percentage points.
The proportion of those working “excessive” hours has declined slightly since 1999/2000, is just because the proportion of female participation in total employment has increased (who work less than 30 hours). Similarly, the proportion of male workers working “excessive” hours has risen by 1.4 percentage points since 1999/2000.
To sum it all, gender gap is a clear market indicator that highlights the recent gains in terms of employment and unemployment rates. Women are still a victim of being underutilized in the economy and labor market as reflected in their overall participation, as well as in the distributions in terms of economic sector and status groups. Comparing the trends since wage and salaried workers is experienced. Just a quarter of all women are now in a salaried position, as compared to a third at the beginning of the decade. However, it is expected that the women participation in the labor market would soon augment due to the increased awareness and demands of earning a better livelihood.
Following is a list of tables determining the statistics employment rates and growth rates of different categories and sectors in the recent years:
A) Population and Labor Force (In Millions)
B) Share in Status Groups of Wage and Salaried Employment
C) Growth in GDP and Selected Indicators
D) GDP, Employment and Labor Productivity Growth (%)
E) Labor Productivity and Skills, 2006/2007 (%)
F) Growth in Real Wages (Of Employees) and Labor Productivity Growth in Manufacturing (%)
IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON URBAN EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIEs
Various factors like social, political, religious, ethnic, and economic considerations push people to migrate from their birth places or origin. Sindh province has experienced considerable patterns of in-migration. An important factor, contributing towards migration is industrialization which provides employment opportunities. To top it off with icing the accessibility of universities and colleges are another attraction of migrating to the urban areas from the rural areas.
Karachi, which is one of the main centers of economic activities accounts for 32 percent of the total major industrial establishment of Pakistan. The statistics show that 48 percent people migrate from other areas to Sindh province to Karachi for employment and 26 percent come for the purpose of business
The highest in-migration after Karachi is into the district of Hyderabad. About 47 percent of in-migrants come for the purpose of business and about 11 percent for employment and transfers. In Sukkur, majority of migrants (78 percent) migrated for employment and due to transfers. In Shikarpur 29 percent and in Larkana 27 percent people migrate because of both employment and business objectives while Khairpur accounts for 54 percent of migration for this purpose.
Education Trends in Pakistan
To quote the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr Gillani, “Literacy, for sure, is the lifeline of any developed country and there is, thus, no denial to the fact that it alone is pivotal to human progress, most important key to development, and so vital for poverty alleviation.”
With a total Adult Literacy rate of 44% of which 66.25% are males and 41.75% are females, Pakistan to date has the lowest labour participation rate in South Asia and there are wide male-female, inter-regional and rural-urban disparities.
Education is considered to have a strong correlation with social and economic development. In contemporary times when the focus is on the 'knowledge economy' the role of education becomes all the more important in the development of human capital.
After all, a society of literate and skilled citizens has more chances of development at the economic and social levels.
Education can reduce poverty and social injustice by providing the underprivileged resources and opportunities for upward social mobility and social inclusion. In countries like Pakistan, education is a privilege availed by only those who can afford it.
The migrant population of Pakistan generally lacks education and skills.
Neither have they undergone schooling nor are they equipped with any technical expertise, due to the focus on agriculture in rural areas.
Population by Level of Education and Rural/Urban
(In Percent)
Administrative Unit/Sex
Below Primary
Primary
Middle
Metric
Inter- mediate
BA/B. Sc. & Equivalent
MA/M. Sc. & Equivalent
Diploma/ Certificate
Others
Pakistan
18.30
30.14
20.90
17.29
6.56
0.41
4.38
1.58
0.44
Rural
22.57
34.88
20.25
14.71
4.24
0.23
1.96
0.75
0.40
Urban
14.06
25.45
21.54
19.85
8.86
0.58
6.78
2.40
0.48
N.W.F.P.
19.78
29.64
19.94
18.61
6.09
0.40
3.43
1.56
0.54
Rural
22.05
31.50
19.74
17.45
4.94
0.29
2.40
1.12
0.50
Urban
13.82
24.75
20.48
21.64
9.11
0.68
6.12
2.74
0.66
Punjab
19.16
31.73
21.81
16.78
5.63
0.32
3.23
1.07
0.28
Rural
22.92
35.65
21.38
14.07
3.60
0.19
1.51
0.44
0.24
Urban
14.58
26.96
22.33
20.09
8.09
0.48
5.33
1.82
0.32
Sindh
15.56
27.13
19.20
17.84
9.00
0.61
7.43
2.65
0.58
Rural
21.36
36.46
15.19
14.28
6.53
0.34
3.54
1.80
0.51
Urban
13.37
23.61
20.71
19.19
9.93
0.72
8.90
2.97
0.60
Balochistan
19.23
25.91
20.05
18.58
6.48
0.47
4.43
2.37
2.49
Rural
23.00
28.56
19.44
16.94
4.66
0.33
2.67
1.23
3.17
Urban
15.16
23.06
20.72
20.33
8.43
0.62
6.33
3.59
1.76
Islamabad
14.05
22.68
18.91
17.90
9.84
0.69
10.26
5.24
0.41
Rural
22.46
29.96
22.29
15.45
5.30
0.35
2.88
1.10
0.21
Urban
10.70
19.78
17.56
18.88
11.65
0.83
13.21
6.90
0.49
Statistics very clearly show that the literacy ratio in Pakistan is very low. Only about 54% of Pakistanis are considered literate and this percentage includes all those who can write their names. Hence the actual literacy rate remains undiscovered. Only 30% of individuals all over Pakistan have received an education up to the Primary level, and 6.56% who have an education up to the Intermediate level. Among the Intermediate students 9% are from the urban areas and 4.24% in the rural areas. Only 0.41% is known to have a Bachelor’s degree or some equivalent degree.
In the case of Sindh, 9% of the population is educated till the Intermediate level, 9.9% from the urban cities and 6.5% from the rural areas of Sindh. Only 7% has a Bachelor’s degree of which only 3% is from the rural areas. Even amongst these, males are a majority while the females are a minority. However, the highest level of education has been observed in Sindh while the lowest has been observed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the North West Frontier Province and the Balochistan.
With regional biasness in relevance to the allocation of finances, budget policies, Ministry policies and the already rigid cultural values, the education sector in Pakistan greatly suffers.
Education: The Case of Migrants
Internal migration redistributes population and workforce from rural to urban areas. People migrating from rural, agri-based cities to urban centers have always earned their livelihood by rearing animals on the farm, growing crops, fruits and vegetables which they can sell for little money and which also fulfills their household appetite. They have little knowledge regarding the importance of education and technical proficiency in metropolitan cities.
They travel to big cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad in search of a better living that is good employment opportunities and high wage rates.
Not much emphasis or heed is paid to the attainment of education and technical expertise. Apart from those who migrate for the purpose of education, a very insignificant percentage of migrants actual consider the option of getting enrolled in a technical institute or focusing on popular skill development. This is one of the reasons why they end up in the Informal Sector.
In relation to the offspring of such people, due to an unstable income, socio-economic frustration, high dependency, with hardly one meal a day, education is the last thing on their family’s priority list.
Relate education to reason for migration chart
Focus Group
Objective:
The main objective behind conducting a focus group was to gain feedback of existing migrants. A questionnaire was designed and a focus group was conducted within SZABIST of those students who have migrated to Karachi from the rural areas of Pakistan.
The basic idea was to give them a forum to voice their opinion through which we could gain substantial insight into a migrant’s mindset. Employment opportunities, life in a small city, education facilities, and family settlement issues all were a part of this fruitful discussion.
Analysis:
The analysis is based on the above mentioned questionnaire. Starting from the factors of migration most of them said that they basically migrate to look for better employment opportunities as there is a really large room untapped for the development in rural areas. However, they themselves being enrolled in SZABIST as students plan to complete their bachelors or masters and then get hired somewhere decent. Secondly, when asked about their expectancy level regarding urban areas they were of the opinion that most of them tend to cling on positivity but still there are many others who are mentally prepared for the hardships they’re going to be facing in the urban areas and that it’s not going to be a piece of cake for them to survive in the urban areas and that they know that ultimately they’ll get hired in the informal sector as a worst case scenario.
When asked about the industrialization of the rural areas in the form of small cottage industries, they gave a very positive reaction regarding it and believed it would definitely decrease the migration process as they know that it’s a kind of informal sector which if brought to rural areas would benefit the rural population. The reason why they were so positive was the fact that they know they’ll end up getting into the informal sector in urban areas as well. Another prominent factor was the female contribution in the labor participation force. Then comes the part of forgoing agricultural employment for urban employment. We got a very vague feedback regarding it. The gist of the feedback was revolving around the fact that agricultural sector is becoming blurry for them and all they think about is attaining a better living for themselves and their families which is going to be achieved by migrating to urban areas.
Another question which was related to technology was left with loopholes. They have a mindset of learning skills after migrating to urban areas irrespective of the fact technological or operational skills. The fact of how to learn those skills remains blurry.
Migration if seen on a broader perspective, as a whole is not really relevant to getting better education but better employment opportunities.
Lastly, when asked about government intervention. They are of the opinion that the government should give subsidies to develop the rural areas in the form of setting up shelter, introducing industrialization within the rural areas and also encourage them to start any small scale business and give endowment to them. It’s high time for the government to stop being ignorant about the development of the rural areas.
Keeping in mind the above mentioned statistics, it is apparent that the people migrating from the rural areas are basically depending upon false hopes of earning a better livelihood after migrating to urban areas. The reason behind this lies in the fact that the migrants think agriculture based employment in rural areas wouldn’t benefit them as much as the industry based employment would benefit them, irrespective of the fact whether they’re skilled or not. As they get to know that the wages of the urban labor force is increasing, they perceive positively about getting hold of the same increased wage rates after migrating to the urban areas and thus the migration takes place every year at a relatively higher rate. These migrants with almost near to nil skills step into the already inflated labor market, thereby disturbing the urban employment opportunities as well as the urban population. The urban employment opportunities are agitated as the aggregate demand for the same work increases and so the industrialists exploit them which results in decreased wage rates as there is a larger pool of laborers then.
However, the fact of going for the informal sector is being ignored by these migrants as their main objective is to get jobs in the formal sector but industrialization requires skilled labor and so they end up getting employed in the informal sector on the basis of semi-skilled labor.
Secondly, it also disturbs the urban population as these migrants are the root cause of congestion within the city. They take shelter in the “kacchi abaadis” and similar places.
To conclude, it is all based on the expectancy level of the migrants of rural areas to urban areas. They expect that they are going to get employment as soon as they’ll migrate and that in the near future they could get their whole family migrated to the urban areas but it in reality it is not a piece of cake as it sounds and thus their expectancy level is horrified after the migration takes place.
Expert Opinion
So as to gain further insight into our research findings regarding the impact of rural urban migration on metropolitan cities, it was considered to be of vital importance to take the outlook of an expert.
Ms Mahvesh Jogezai, a patron of a recently established NGO “This Way Left” was consulted. Ms Mahvesh Jojezai along with being a social worker is a writer, as well as private research analyst. She has worked for a number of NGO’s, dealing with a wide variety of socio-economic issues of Pakistan.
In her opinion rural urban migration associated with swelling urban populations is a threat to the economic prowess of an economy if not dealt in time, in the light of a conducive socio-economic policy framework.
She believes, the government needs to attract the right type of labour force to metropolitan cities, in context to education and skills while also implementing large scale Rural Development Programs in order to increase the quality of life in rural areas.
Agriculture being the main source of income for a person living in a rural vicinity, should be promoted, by giving subsidies, introducing farm technology and providing other income generating options.
Ms Jogezai believes that educating the rural masses is extremely essential for the socio-economic competitiveness of the country.
In context to big cities like Karachi and Lahore, Ms Jogezai is of the opinion that migrants should be provided rehabilitation. The establishment of Small scale and medium industries will help create jobs for the unskilled and semi-skilled.
Making education up to high school level free, establishing a standardized education system, with a new curriculum based on the values of history, art, culture and emphasis on the sciences and technology is believed to be extremely necessary and a need of the hour.
She believes, skill development institutes at all levels, regarding all different fields, for both males and females is an essential requirement and will contribute towards increasing the labour participation rate and thereby increase house hold incomes.
Recommendations
Rural-Urban migration is said to be an integral part of the urban population growth.
On the negative side, a considerable percentage of non skilled and semi skilled people have moved to big cities and consequently put pressure on the civic institutions and have also generated a problem of housing, which raises the prices of the houses and urban properties.
Industrial growth of cities breeds multiple problems, including the unplanned growth of the city. People who migrate from rural areas to cities for earning bread and butter are forced to live in slums where they face numerous problems. Resultantly, a mushroom growth of slums takes place.
On the positive side, migration has helped reduce pressure on agricultural land, provided opportunities for the rural unemployed and underemployed, and is associated with rising living standards and livelihood prospects at the household and community levels in the urban areas.
Migration may relieve labor market pressure (for unskilled and semi skilled labor) and generate remittances that constitute an important source of income for migrants’ families.
In order to control and curb migration figures in urban cities, it is necessary for the Government to introduce and implement a suitable framework of policies.
The push factors of poor standard of living, stringent cultural values, lack of socio-economic freedom need to be dealt with. It is necessary to understand that such policies can not be introduced over night nor can will they bear results overnight, such policies are a part of a gradual process of economic development and social enlightenment; it takes generations.
Rural development in Pakistan is a complex phenomenon, for social, cultural and religious values and mindsets play havoc by acting is a strong resisting force.
Rural Development policies which focus on the establishment of an education framework on the basis of which schools are set up, primary education as well technical expertise to upgrade the general level of literacy is imparted.
Infrastructure development projects in rural areas will improve living conditions and civic facilities as well as simultaneously, externalize employment opportunities.
It is necessary to empower farmers. Enhancing their asset ownership, introducing modern farm technology, educating them about micro financing options through which they can start small scale enterprises.
Promoting the concept of rural industrialization through Rural Development Programs will educate the rural masses, increase awareness and insight into the process or modernization, generate employment opportunities etc.
In relation to migrants in urban cities, the government should establish colonies for their settlement. It is essential to provide them with adequate income generating options, be it jobs demanding unskilled labour effort. Welfare programs for the rehabilitation of migrants, technical education made available are all necessary steps which need to be taken by the government.
Amongst the many other challenges faced by rural areas which force people to explore the option of migrating to urban cities, one major set back is of obsolete agricultural practices on the farm, and an ignorant attitude on behalf of the government towards forestry, fishing and livestock farming.
If the government introduces reforms to support as well as promote these particular sectors of the economy, a huge percentage of the rural population will experience an increase in aggregate household incomes. Emphasis through proper policy framework on the development of these industries can be a competitive advantage for a country like Pakistan and considerably add to the economy’s GDP.
Appendix 1:
Questionnaire for Rural Urban Migration
Q1) What are the factors responsible for migrating from rural areas to urban areas?
Q2) Does it have any relevance with getting better education?
Q3) Do you think if small cottage industries are set up in the rural areas it would stop the migration process?
Q4) Is the pre-migration expectancy level synchronized with the post migration situations?
Q5) Is it worth forgoing the agricultural employment for the tentative industrial employment with the family burden of eight to ten members?
Q6) How do you plan to cope up with the technological advancements?
Q7) What are your expectations from the government related to curb this problem?
Appendix 2:
Bibliography
http://www.worldbank.org.pk/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/PAKISTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21608863~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:293052,00.html http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/Oct-09/Importance-of-education.asp http://www.fspublishers.org/jass/past-issues/JASSVOL_1_NO_2/18.pdf http://www.google.com.pk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=urbanization&start=10&sa=N http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/09/urbanization-in-pakistan-highest-in.html UNDP Report 2009: Development and Migration
Pakistan Employment Trends 2008
The Impact of Urbanization on Family Structure 2008
Karachi – the City of Migrants by Mansoor Raza
Urbanization Challenges in Pakistan by Murtaza Haider
Rapid changes are being observed in our socio-economic structure. Inflation, influx of migrants, rapid industrialization, urbanization and other similar factors contribute to changes. Age old custom, values, traditions are breaking down. Sociologically we may conclude that our culture is changing and one basic reason for this change is the transformation of our economics. The modern world is the world of urbanization, industrialization and social change.
Pakistan is expected to be urbanized and thus, industrialized with the development of factories and the establishment of industries. This can be felt all over the country.
The acceleration in growth of cities, the correlation between size of city, its growth and the inclination towards industrial and commercial expansion indicates that urbanization in Pakistan is gaining momentum and with it acting as a major pull factor for people living in much less developed regions of the country.
Increasing population density, worsening unemployment figures, burdening the resources of already over populated cities, causing social chaos are only a few of the much widespread effects of Rural-Urban Migration.
Scope of Report
The first section of this report introduces the subject of study and outlines the theme of discussion.
A comprehensive and widely accepted definition of Migration, the forces behind it and its pros and cons will be methodically discussed.
All information has been supported with the sufficient use of statistics.
The case of migration in correlation to urbanization will be discussed with emphasis on the sectors of Employment and Education in the second half of the report. All data is part of primary and secondary research. Relevant statistics attained from the official sources of The Federal Statistics Bureau of Pakistan have been appropriately used to establish facts and explain the impacts of all existing trends.
Specifically, as part of primary research, a focus group was conducted with the aim of understanding the outlook and socio-economic expectations of those who have migrated to Karachi from rural areas.
To gain further insight, Ms. Mahvesh Jogezai, a patron of the NGO, “This Way Left” was consulted for an expert opinion. A synopsis of her opinion on the current situation of migration in correlation to urbanization, is a later part of the report.
As members of this research project, we, based on our findings have also provided a framework of recommendations and policies which we believe should be inculcated and would help control this problem of rural-urban migration and the other issues coupled with it.
Introduction to the Variable: Migration
Migration can be defined as the displacement of a person who leaves their place of birth or of residence for another place. Human Migration may take place in large groups as well as when a single person moves from one place to another to take up permanent or semi-permanent residence in an area other than his native district.
According to the United Nations Development Program’s, Human Development Report published in 2009; there are almost 1 billion migrants in the world – that is 1 out of every 7 persons is a migrant.
Human migration occurs at a variety of scales:
Inter-continental: between continents
Intra-continental: between countries on a given continent
Inter-regional: within countries
One of the most significant migration patterns has been of rural to urban migration—the movement of people from the countryside to cities in search of opportunities.
Of the 1 billion people in the world who migrate; almost 740 million are internal migrants - almost four times the number of international migrants.
Pakistan to date has a population of 167965000 people, of which over 10829264 are migrants. Of these 10829264 people, 6908835 people are rural urban migrants, that is, almost 64% of the total migrant population in Pakistan has been transferred from rural areas to metropolitan cities.
ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT
AREA
( SQ. KM.)
POPULATION 1998
POPULATION DENSITY PER SQ. KM. PROPORTION
Number
Percentage
URBAN
RURAL
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
PAKISTAN
796096
132352279
100.00
166.3
32.5
67.5
N W F P *
74521
17743645
13.41
238.1
16.9
83.1
FATA **
27220
3176331
2.40
116.7
2.7
97.3
PUNJAB
205345
73621290
55.63
358.5
31.3
68.7
SINDH
140914
30439893
23.00
216
48.8
51.2
BALOCHISTAN
347190
6565885
4.96
18.9
23.9
76.1
ISLAMABAD
906
805235
0.61
888.8
65.7
34.3
Pakistan is a developing country that has experienced rapid rural-urban migration in the last thirty years. Due to lack of employment opportunities and insufficient income from farming in rural areas, migrating to the urban is one of the limited options available to poor villagers.
Causes Of Rural Urban Migration
From the perspective of the migrants, the main cause for settlement in cities is to earn more to send the money back in their villages to the families they have left behind, to provide better educational prospects to their children, to provide better health and sanitation facilities to their families, to get better employment opportunities, to repay their debts and emerge out of the misery of poverty. There is an apparent increase in the urban labor market activity, considerable decrease in poverty and a significant difference in the perceived wage rate of the urban and rural areas.
The migrant typically leaves his wife and children behind initially and sends money to them from the city to provide for their basic necessities. He then returns back to the village during peak agricultural season. Being able to bring his family to the city is considered a milestone by him. Migration is simply an escape from his problems.
Another very obvious factor that enhances the tendency of rural to urban migration is the vast network effect. Once the initial process of migration from one village to a city has started, it is followed by streams of migrants. This is due to their connections in the cities; having your relatives, friends or family at the urban destination makes it easier for you to migrate. They may help you find suitable and affordable accommodation, they may help you find a decent job and adjust in the new environment. This positively impacts the perceived return of migration for the rural man.
Karachi is one of the most urbanized cities in Pakistan. It is the only modern and progressive city in Sindh. From the perspective of an urban city center, there are many factors that draw migrants to that city. Karachi being the provincial capital attracts many people from the interior Sindh. The boom in the construction industry also boosted the rural urban migration because more housing units were being built.
Another point of attraction was the expansion of the fishing industry in Karachi. An additional external factor included the expansion of agriculture in the Punjab and Bahawalpur due to development in the irrigation system causing an increase in the production of cotton. This resulted in augmentation of the port related businesses and drew more migrants towards the Southern part of Sindh.
The above given table, provides figures from the 1998 census for migration according to rationale, classified on the basis of province.
As can be seen in the table, the highest weightage is of the population that “Moves with the Head”. Sindh having a 49.13%, Punjab 38%, NWFP 57.51% and Balochistan 43.85%. Whereas people moving for reasons of “Employment” are comparatively much less in number. Sindh having a 15.78%, Punjab 9.06%, NWFP 16.53 and Balochistan 24.15%.
To justify this vast difference in figures it is necessary to understand that when the family head, in the case of Pakistan, usually males, migrate to urban centres in search of employment opportunities and a better standard of living, their families usually migrate with them if not later ( approximately a period of 6 months). Therefore, a higher percentage of people migrate under the head of “Moving with the Head”. With an average family size of 7.5 persons in the context of a single male coming to a metropolitan city in hope of finding a better standard of living, brings with him, on an average, atleast 6.5 persons of which 5.5 are under the legal age of employment therefore a higher dependency ratio.
A huge percentage of the Pakistani population migrates due to personal and social reasons such as Marriage. Due to the improvement in transport networks, construction of roads, highways which connect rural cities to urban hubs a great percentage of people are noted to travel to and from which obviously contributes to the high rural to urban migratory pattern; which simultaneously increases marriage trends. Females living in rural areas are married to men working in big cities. Such trends result in entire families migrating to urban centers.
Pros and Cons of Rural Urban Migration in Pakistan
Rural-Urban migration in Pakistan has resulted in many positive as well as negative effects. Many of these effects can already be seen; others have the potential to appear in our economy.
Pros:
Many people would say that Rural to Urban migration in Pakistan is a good way of inculcating progress in the economy. Following the Lewis’s model of the Two-Sector economy, the basic and the most major advantage Rural to Urban migration brings about in the economy is the transfer of surplus labour from the traditional agrarian sector to the modern industrial sector the country. This is that kind of labour that is not doing any productive work in the agricultural area. So migration of that labour from that sector to the modern sector, training them and using them in the organized city work helps create a better labour force.
Rural to Urban migration has also helped increase the level of income of the average person living in the rural sector. If the worker/laborer had stayed in his village, he may not have earned that much income as to what he was able to earn in the city. Migration enabled him to earn more, thus satisfying more of his needs. This has improved the level of that migrant who was originally numbered among the poor and is now living above the poverty line. Hence there is a fairly uniform agreement that both internal and international migrations help in absolute poverty reduction.
There is significant proof that where migration has occurred the consequent amount of poverty reduction has been substantial. And the places that have remained isolated from migration remain among the poorest in the country.
Where the workers migrate from their rural villages to the city, they have more opportunities to transfer funds and resources that they accumulate in the urban cities to their rural homes thus enabling development of their home community. This means that there is a potential of trickle down of benefits through a multiplier effect.
Migration may also enhance intergenerational socioeconomic mobility, though this remains to be explored. This means that there is more probability that due to migration the income prospects of the children of the migrants is much better than that of their parents.
Migration may also in an indirect manner effect the people of the rural areas. If the individuals from very distant villages are not able to move into town themselves, they may however participate in a chain of replacement migration, moving into those rural areas from which migrants are drawn into town or overseas. This means that individuals from extremely remote areas may end up migrating to less remote villages taking a small step towards moving into the city.
Migration provides individuals migrating from poor areas better level of living, better sanitation and health facilities, better job and educational opportunities and better access to electricity and water facilities.
It has been observed that people migrating from the rural areas to the cities have better chances of survival than they would have had if they had stayed in the village. Rural life is full of diseases and malnourishment. This is one of the major reasons why people want to move away from those areas. Once they enter the city, they have access to better and effective medicines and treatments that would give them more chances of avoiding diseases.
It has been discovered that children of migrant families have a lower infant mortality rate and higher birth weight. Since mothers in the migrant families acquire better knowledge regarding health and nutrition, they are better able to give birth to healthy babies lowering the infant mortality rate. These babies have better chances of staying alive and remain healthy. Apart from this, migrant mothers also spread their health related knowledge in their home villages indirectly improving the child health among those non-migrant families also.
Employment related Rural to urban migration and changing social structure of the economy has also enhanced the preferences towards more nuclear families thus decreasing the household size. This would mean more affordability. Where one breadwinner initially had to support a large family now has to support lesser individuals. This way he is able to provide larger proportions of income to each of his family members.
There is also considerable evidence that the remittances resulting from rural urban migration are often spent on school fees. There is supporting evidence that remittance incomes are positively correlated with education enrolment. This means that the urban income earned by the migrants is being spent on improving the quality of education of their children.
It has also been observed that migration has helped people in solving their small problems like paying off of debts.
Cons:
Migration in some contexts has posed a problem in the economy. A few years ago this migration trend was beneficial for the economy. However during the current recession period almost every company/organization has undergone downsizing resulting in a huge level of unemployment. Where the labour force from the interior used to come to the city for work; now there is no work available for the labour force that is already present in the cities. Even considering the largest and fastest growing cohort in Pakistan i.e. the young individuals between the ages of 15 to 25, majority of this youth presently remains unemployed. There emerges a risk of the energies of these young adults to be directed towards other less appropriate activities because their energies are not being utilized productively.
Migration has also increased the burden on the deteriorating economy of our country. The resources of the most urbanised cities of Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Faisalabad are being more and more divided over the increasing population. There is an increasing demand of the general public services that the economy is not being able to meet.
This increasing gap between the demand and supply of the general public services has given rise to a lot of frustration and an increase in the crime rate. The ever escalating rural to urban migration is flooding the capacity of the urban city to provide employment and the basic necessities to these migrants. These migrants come to the city with lots of expectations of a better life which are ultimately not met. This instils in them a feeling of deprivation and disappointment which eventually leads to violent and aggressive behaviour, criminal acts and emotional turmoil. It is not the only reason for the increasing crime rate in our country, which includes mobile and car snatching and trafficking of drugs; however rural urban migration may be considered as one of the major reasons for the augmenting crime rates in Karachi.
Another related problem is the identity crisis. These migrants have to undergo a lot of adjustments both socially and mentally when they enter a new city with an entirely different environment, lifestyle, language, mannerisms etc. They have to give up a lot of their past habits due to which they often indulge in an identity crisis. Due to this very reason, they become vulnerable and end up joining political and religious extremist groups.
Excessive migration trends have resulted in an increase in the urban population by 3.54% per year. In addition to this, in Karachi, where population rises at 6% per annum, urban services expand by only 1.2%. This means that there is a mounting need for new housing facilities, transportation facilities, water, sewage and electricity facilities and health and sanitation and security facilities. In a very short span of time, with such increasing needs and saturation in the urban cities, the Pakistan economy will not be able to keep up with these new demands.
Distribution of resources over a larger and increasing population has led to acute power and water shortages in the country and especially in Karachi. Such electricity failures in return directly affect the everyday activities of the city and frustrate the citizens. The transportation sector is also not being able to cope with the increasing demand of the public transport facilities.
Since planning of the infrastructure and housing units has always been reactive rather than anticipatory, lack of proper housing space and less affordability of such facilities in the urban cities has led to emergence of slums and squatter settlements in the major cities. This means unlawful residences, or “jhoonpris / katchi abadis” spring up in some areas of the cities. These areas then become the cultivation point of different diseases as well as crimes.
The increase in the number of migrants also results in congestion, pollution, extreme traffic hassles, overpopulation and suffocation. The road networks and the housing schemes in Karachi are not designed to accommodate such a large number of people. Currently the government is only being able to meet about one-eighth of the total per year housing demand in the city. Still they are constantly trying to fit into these cities in congested small apartments and other small houses. This has lead to a major issue of traffic jams on the streets of Karachi.
The health and educational system in Karachi is also not that diverse to accommodate such a large number of people. Even if the migrants do earn a bit more, some of them are still not able to afford the hospital fees or the expenses of medicines for their children. The hospitals have been made according to the population of Karachi, but this population is increasing everyday and is resulting in more patients and less doctors. Apart from this, the children of migrants almost always end up in government schools which are overcrowded and do not offer quality education or even the basic facilities like a proper class room, benches or stationery.
Due to lack of opportunities, people leave the pollution free environments and less costly houses in their rural villages and migrate to urban cities where finding a house at an affordable rate is becoming increasingly difficult with real estate agents imposing their terms on the individuals.
The migrants have taken up even the petty jobs available in the informal sector of the cities, like bus conductors, drivers, and shopkeepers etc. leaving very little jobs for the city people. Rural to urban migration in this way has directly augmented the unemployment process.
Due to migration there has become more parental absence in the rural areas. Fathers being the head of the house move to the cities to earn leaving their women and children back in the villages. This results in less supervision of the children with respect to their school attendance, basic learning at home and other activities. Presence of mothers does not have much influence on the sons because the value of women in the rural areas is next to nothing. In some cases the extended family may replace the absent fathers; however the probability of this happening is very low.
In the same regard, the absence of fathers may also put pressure on the young children to quit their schools and take up work to support the family’s basic needs.
It is also a fact that in case of children migrating from the rural areas, they are more likely to migrate from communities with higher migration propensities. But these children, not having that much education or schooling, are not able to find decent jobs and end up living on the streets of the urban cities.
Economic growth and consequent urban migration have caused changes in preferences towards more nuclear families. This has caused a perceptible lowering of the household size. As a result there has been an increase in the area requirements and a demand for more housing units which may very soon lead to saturation of housing space in Karachi.
It may also be said that rural to urban migration is also one of the reasons for the increase in the number of beggars on the streets of Karachi. This is a commonly observed and an apparent consequence of all of the above mentioned implications of migration.
Urbanization
The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history. According to recent figures more than half of the world’s population is living in urban towns and cities. Economists estimate that by the year 2030, almost 5 billion will be living in these urban centers.
Pakistan being the world’s 7th most over populated country is undergoing extreme urbanization such that it is becoming burdensome for the Government to control the many negativities attached with it.
With rapid industrialization taking place in Pakistan, urbanization is an inevitable phenomenon.
Urbanization is not just a side effect of economic growth; it is an integral part of the process, according to the World Bank. With the vigorous economic growth averaging 7 percent and availability of millions of new jobs created between 2000 and 2008, there has been increased rural to urban migration in Pakistan to take advantage of the in growing job opportunities in the manufacturing and service sectors.
The level of urbanization in Pakistan is now the highest in South Asia, and its urban population is likely to equal its rural population by 2030, according to a report titled ‘Life in the City: Pakistan in Focus’, released by the United Nations Population Fund.
The urban population now contributes about 75% of Pakistan's GDP and nearly the entire of the government’s revenue. The industrial sector contributes over 27% of the GDP, 19% is contributed by agriculture, while service sector contributes the rest of the 54%.
According to the Population Census 1998, it can be seen that the highest growth in cities in context to urbanization has been noted in Islamabad 5.76 %, Larkana 4.69%, Rahim Yar Khan 4.04%, Sheikhupura 4.11%, Quetta 4.09%, Karachi 3.49% and Lahore 3.32 %.
Karachi, Lahore and Quetta being provincial capitals and Islamabad being the Federal capital have acted as major pull factors for people living in adjoining rural areas. Big, metropolitan cities like Karachi and Lahore are dream cities for people living in the rural areas all over the country.
According to an American research company, Karachi is known as Pakistan’s “lifeline”. With a contribution of 25% to the country’s GDP, “Karachi is one of the most over crowded cities of the world”.
There are many issues caused by the current wave of urbanization. Foremost being the massive increase urban population due to mass rural urban migration.
The over population of urban cities like Karachi and Lahore is the root of their very problems. The creation of more and more urban slums, increased environmental corrosion, and the tremendous pressures on civic services which are already strained and suffering beyond limits due to political instability and weak government policies.
OVERVIEW OF EMPLOYMENT TRENDS IN PAKISTAN
For the period of 2007/2008, Pakistan’s economy has been a drastic year which has experienced several conditions of turmoil; intricate political conditions, law and order risks, supply shocks and soaring oil, hiked prices of food and other commodities. Despite these transitions, Pakistan showed a vigorous growth of 5.8 per cent against 6.8 per cent growth in 2006/2007. The renewed employment policy framework in combination with this growth rate in recent years has the potential of providing an edge to the labor market i.e. a move towards the better realization of full and productive employment and decent work for all.
As employment has always been a problem for our country, the recent analysis of labor market trends indicates that substantial improvements have been achieved in Pakistan; especially with regard to employment opportunities and equity at work. However, a wide number of challenges still prevail ahead of us in order to achieve target of “full and productive employment and decent work for all”.
The following table shows the employment, unemployment and labor force participation rates (of people aged 15+) which have changed in line with the economic growth of the country in recent years.
SELECTED KEY INDICATORS OF THE LABOUR MARKET
According to this table, there is a decline in the labor participation force of 0.5 percentage points for the 15+ population. The reason behind this decline lies in the fact that the male participation rates had declined so much so that it had almost gotten on par with the participation rates measured between 1999/2000 and 2003/2004. Conversely, the female participation rate has continued to ascend since the very beginning of the decade, with a very small increase of 0.2 percentage points in the most recent survey year.
Similarly, the above mentioned table displays information about the unemployment rates in the recent years. The standard definition that is used to measure the number of unemployed is “those individuals without work, seeking work in a recent past period and currently available for work. Labor market analysts often promote the measurement of unemployment according to the “relaxed definition”, meaning relaxing the criterion of seeking work, in situations in which the application of this criterion is likely to underestimate the untapped human resources of a country.”
In Pakistan, the unemployment rate is measured on the basis of the above mentioned definition. In 2006/2007 it reached an historical low of 5.1 per cent, a 2.1 percentage point decline since 1999/2000, despite the increases in labor force participation since the beginning of the decade.
Despite these employment problems, women have particularly benefited from the overall labor market developments in the country. The female unemployment rate at 8.6 per cent in 2006/2007, the lowest in recent years, should be seen in combination with an increase in the female labor force participation rate by 5.0 percentage points since 1999/2000. These positive amplifications are, to a large extent, due to the increased awareness and the courage of women of stepping into the labor market. It’s basically an introduction of positioning the young women in the labor market.
The increasing share of industry over agriculture in terms of total employment and GDP is experienced due to the fact that Pakistan’s labor market is going through a structural change. Even though, the declining share of agriculture in GDP is experienced since 1999/2000, the agricultural employment share is increasing in the recent years.
The existing labor market indicators suggest that however, there are gains in the employment opportunities as reflected in labor force participation and in employment with regard to high population ratios and unemployment rates, this structural transformation is not yet benefiting the majority of workers who lack decent employment due to the increased demand. Work in the informal economy increased from 65 per cent of non-agricultural employment in 1999/2000 to 71.5 per cent in 2006/2007. During the same period, wage and salaried employment increased by only 2.4 percentage points of the employed (15+), and the size of the status group of own-account workers decreased by more than seven percentage points.
The proportion of those working “excessive” hours has declined slightly since 1999/2000, is just because the proportion of female participation in total employment has increased (who work less than 30 hours). Similarly, the proportion of male workers working “excessive” hours has risen by 1.4 percentage points since 1999/2000.
To sum it all, gender gap is a clear market indicator that highlights the recent gains in terms of employment and unemployment rates. Women are still a victim of being underutilized in the economy and labor market as reflected in their overall participation, as well as in the distributions in terms of economic sector and status groups. Comparing the trends since wage and salaried workers is experienced. Just a quarter of all women are now in a salaried position, as compared to a third at the beginning of the decade. However, it is expected that the women participation in the labor market would soon augment due to the increased awareness and demands of earning a better livelihood.
Following is a list of tables determining the statistics employment rates and growth rates of different categories and sectors in the recent years:
A) Population and Labor Force (In Millions)
B) Share in Status Groups of Wage and Salaried Employment
C) Growth in GDP and Selected Indicators
D) GDP, Employment and Labor Productivity Growth (%)
E) Labor Productivity and Skills, 2006/2007 (%)
F) Growth in Real Wages (Of Employees) and Labor Productivity Growth in Manufacturing (%)
IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON URBAN EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIEs
Various factors like social, political, religious, ethnic, and economic considerations push people to migrate from their birth places or origin. Sindh province has experienced considerable patterns of in-migration. An important factor, contributing towards migration is industrialization which provides employment opportunities. To top it off with icing the accessibility of universities and colleges are another attraction of migrating to the urban areas from the rural areas.
Karachi, which is one of the main centers of economic activities accounts for 32 percent of the total major industrial establishment of Pakistan. The statistics show that 48 percent people migrate from other areas to Sindh province to Karachi for employment and 26 percent come for the purpose of business
The highest in-migration after Karachi is into the district of Hyderabad. About 47 percent of in-migrants come for the purpose of business and about 11 percent for employment and transfers. In Sukkur, majority of migrants (78 percent) migrated for employment and due to transfers. In Shikarpur 29 percent and in Larkana 27 percent people migrate because of both employment and business objectives while Khairpur accounts for 54 percent of migration for this purpose.
Education Trends in Pakistan
To quote the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr Gillani, “Literacy, for sure, is the lifeline of any developed country and there is, thus, no denial to the fact that it alone is pivotal to human progress, most important key to development, and so vital for poverty alleviation.”
With a total Adult Literacy rate of 44% of which 66.25% are males and 41.75% are females, Pakistan to date has the lowest labour participation rate in South Asia and there are wide male-female, inter-regional and rural-urban disparities.
Education is considered to have a strong correlation with social and economic development. In contemporary times when the focus is on the 'knowledge economy' the role of education becomes all the more important in the development of human capital.
After all, a society of literate and skilled citizens has more chances of development at the economic and social levels.
Education can reduce poverty and social injustice by providing the underprivileged resources and opportunities for upward social mobility and social inclusion. In countries like Pakistan, education is a privilege availed by only those who can afford it.
The migrant population of Pakistan generally lacks education and skills.
Neither have they undergone schooling nor are they equipped with any technical expertise, due to the focus on agriculture in rural areas.
Population by Level of Education and Rural/Urban
(In Percent)
Administrative Unit/Sex
Below Primary
Primary
Middle
Metric
Inter- mediate
BA/B. Sc. & Equivalent
MA/M. Sc. & Equivalent
Diploma/ Certificate
Others
Pakistan
18.30
30.14
20.90
17.29
6.56
0.41
4.38
1.58
0.44
Rural
22.57
34.88
20.25
14.71
4.24
0.23
1.96
0.75
0.40
Urban
14.06
25.45
21.54
19.85
8.86
0.58
6.78
2.40
0.48
N.W.F.P.
19.78
29.64
19.94
18.61
6.09
0.40
3.43
1.56
0.54
Rural
22.05
31.50
19.74
17.45
4.94
0.29
2.40
1.12
0.50
Urban
13.82
24.75
20.48
21.64
9.11
0.68
6.12
2.74
0.66
Punjab
19.16
31.73
21.81
16.78
5.63
0.32
3.23
1.07
0.28
Rural
22.92
35.65
21.38
14.07
3.60
0.19
1.51
0.44
0.24
Urban
14.58
26.96
22.33
20.09
8.09
0.48
5.33
1.82
0.32
Sindh
15.56
27.13
19.20
17.84
9.00
0.61
7.43
2.65
0.58
Rural
21.36
36.46
15.19
14.28
6.53
0.34
3.54
1.80
0.51
Urban
13.37
23.61
20.71
19.19
9.93
0.72
8.90
2.97
0.60
Balochistan
19.23
25.91
20.05
18.58
6.48
0.47
4.43
2.37
2.49
Rural
23.00
28.56
19.44
16.94
4.66
0.33
2.67
1.23
3.17
Urban
15.16
23.06
20.72
20.33
8.43
0.62
6.33
3.59
1.76
Islamabad
14.05
22.68
18.91
17.90
9.84
0.69
10.26
5.24
0.41
Rural
22.46
29.96
22.29
15.45
5.30
0.35
2.88
1.10
0.21
Urban
10.70
19.78
17.56
18.88
11.65
0.83
13.21
6.90
0.49
Statistics very clearly show that the literacy ratio in Pakistan is very low. Only about 54% of Pakistanis are considered literate and this percentage includes all those who can write their names. Hence the actual literacy rate remains undiscovered. Only 30% of individuals all over Pakistan have received an education up to the Primary level, and 6.56% who have an education up to the Intermediate level. Among the Intermediate students 9% are from the urban areas and 4.24% in the rural areas. Only 0.41% is known to have a Bachelor’s degree or some equivalent degree.
In the case of Sindh, 9% of the population is educated till the Intermediate level, 9.9% from the urban cities and 6.5% from the rural areas of Sindh. Only 7% has a Bachelor’s degree of which only 3% is from the rural areas. Even amongst these, males are a majority while the females are a minority. However, the highest level of education has been observed in Sindh while the lowest has been observed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, the North West Frontier Province and the Balochistan.
With regional biasness in relevance to the allocation of finances, budget policies, Ministry policies and the already rigid cultural values, the education sector in Pakistan greatly suffers.
Education: The Case of Migrants
Internal migration redistributes population and workforce from rural to urban areas. People migrating from rural, agri-based cities to urban centers have always earned their livelihood by rearing animals on the farm, growing crops, fruits and vegetables which they can sell for little money and which also fulfills their household appetite. They have little knowledge regarding the importance of education and technical proficiency in metropolitan cities.
They travel to big cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Faisalabad in search of a better living that is good employment opportunities and high wage rates.
Not much emphasis or heed is paid to the attainment of education and technical expertise. Apart from those who migrate for the purpose of education, a very insignificant percentage of migrants actual consider the option of getting enrolled in a technical institute or focusing on popular skill development. This is one of the reasons why they end up in the Informal Sector.
In relation to the offspring of such people, due to an unstable income, socio-economic frustration, high dependency, with hardly one meal a day, education is the last thing on their family’s priority list.
Relate education to reason for migration chart
Focus Group
Objective:
The main objective behind conducting a focus group was to gain feedback of existing migrants. A questionnaire was designed and a focus group was conducted within SZABIST of those students who have migrated to Karachi from the rural areas of Pakistan.
The basic idea was to give them a forum to voice their opinion through which we could gain substantial insight into a migrant’s mindset. Employment opportunities, life in a small city, education facilities, and family settlement issues all were a part of this fruitful discussion.
Analysis:
The analysis is based on the above mentioned questionnaire. Starting from the factors of migration most of them said that they basically migrate to look for better employment opportunities as there is a really large room untapped for the development in rural areas. However, they themselves being enrolled in SZABIST as students plan to complete their bachelors or masters and then get hired somewhere decent. Secondly, when asked about their expectancy level regarding urban areas they were of the opinion that most of them tend to cling on positivity but still there are many others who are mentally prepared for the hardships they’re going to be facing in the urban areas and that it’s not going to be a piece of cake for them to survive in the urban areas and that they know that ultimately they’ll get hired in the informal sector as a worst case scenario.
When asked about the industrialization of the rural areas in the form of small cottage industries, they gave a very positive reaction regarding it and believed it would definitely decrease the migration process as they know that it’s a kind of informal sector which if brought to rural areas would benefit the rural population. The reason why they were so positive was the fact that they know they’ll end up getting into the informal sector in urban areas as well. Another prominent factor was the female contribution in the labor participation force. Then comes the part of forgoing agricultural employment for urban employment. We got a very vague feedback regarding it. The gist of the feedback was revolving around the fact that agricultural sector is becoming blurry for them and all they think about is attaining a better living for themselves and their families which is going to be achieved by migrating to urban areas.
Another question which was related to technology was left with loopholes. They have a mindset of learning skills after migrating to urban areas irrespective of the fact technological or operational skills. The fact of how to learn those skills remains blurry.
Migration if seen on a broader perspective, as a whole is not really relevant to getting better education but better employment opportunities.
Lastly, when asked about government intervention. They are of the opinion that the government should give subsidies to develop the rural areas in the form of setting up shelter, introducing industrialization within the rural areas and also encourage them to start any small scale business and give endowment to them. It’s high time for the government to stop being ignorant about the development of the rural areas.
Keeping in mind the above mentioned statistics, it is apparent that the people migrating from the rural areas are basically depending upon false hopes of earning a better livelihood after migrating to urban areas. The reason behind this lies in the fact that the migrants think agriculture based employment in rural areas wouldn’t benefit them as much as the industry based employment would benefit them, irrespective of the fact whether they’re skilled or not. As they get to know that the wages of the urban labor force is increasing, they perceive positively about getting hold of the same increased wage rates after migrating to the urban areas and thus the migration takes place every year at a relatively higher rate. These migrants with almost near to nil skills step into the already inflated labor market, thereby disturbing the urban employment opportunities as well as the urban population. The urban employment opportunities are agitated as the aggregate demand for the same work increases and so the industrialists exploit them which results in decreased wage rates as there is a larger pool of laborers then.
However, the fact of going for the informal sector is being ignored by these migrants as their main objective is to get jobs in the formal sector but industrialization requires skilled labor and so they end up getting employed in the informal sector on the basis of semi-skilled labor.
Secondly, it also disturbs the urban population as these migrants are the root cause of congestion within the city. They take shelter in the “kacchi abaadis” and similar places.
To conclude, it is all based on the expectancy level of the migrants of rural areas to urban areas. They expect that they are going to get employment as soon as they’ll migrate and that in the near future they could get their whole family migrated to the urban areas but it in reality it is not a piece of cake as it sounds and thus their expectancy level is horrified after the migration takes place.
Expert Opinion
So as to gain further insight into our research findings regarding the impact of rural urban migration on metropolitan cities, it was considered to be of vital importance to take the outlook of an expert.
Ms Mahvesh Jogezai, a patron of a recently established NGO “This Way Left” was consulted. Ms Mahvesh Jojezai along with being a social worker is a writer, as well as private research analyst. She has worked for a number of NGO’s, dealing with a wide variety of socio-economic issues of Pakistan.
In her opinion rural urban migration associated with swelling urban populations is a threat to the economic prowess of an economy if not dealt in time, in the light of a conducive socio-economic policy framework.
She believes, the government needs to attract the right type of labour force to metropolitan cities, in context to education and skills while also implementing large scale Rural Development Programs in order to increase the quality of life in rural areas.
Agriculture being the main source of income for a person living in a rural vicinity, should be promoted, by giving subsidies, introducing farm technology and providing other income generating options.
Ms Jogezai believes that educating the rural masses is extremely essential for the socio-economic competitiveness of the country.
In context to big cities like Karachi and Lahore, Ms Jogezai is of the opinion that migrants should be provided rehabilitation. The establishment of Small scale and medium industries will help create jobs for the unskilled and semi-skilled.
Making education up to high school level free, establishing a standardized education system, with a new curriculum based on the values of history, art, culture and emphasis on the sciences and technology is believed to be extremely necessary and a need of the hour.
She believes, skill development institutes at all levels, regarding all different fields, for both males and females is an essential requirement and will contribute towards increasing the labour participation rate and thereby increase house hold incomes.
Recommendations
Rural-Urban migration is said to be an integral part of the urban population growth.
On the negative side, a considerable percentage of non skilled and semi skilled people have moved to big cities and consequently put pressure on the civic institutions and have also generated a problem of housing, which raises the prices of the houses and urban properties.
Industrial growth of cities breeds multiple problems, including the unplanned growth of the city. People who migrate from rural areas to cities for earning bread and butter are forced to live in slums where they face numerous problems. Resultantly, a mushroom growth of slums takes place.
On the positive side, migration has helped reduce pressure on agricultural land, provided opportunities for the rural unemployed and underemployed, and is associated with rising living standards and livelihood prospects at the household and community levels in the urban areas.
Migration may relieve labor market pressure (for unskilled and semi skilled labor) and generate remittances that constitute an important source of income for migrants’ families.
In order to control and curb migration figures in urban cities, it is necessary for the Government to introduce and implement a suitable framework of policies.
The push factors of poor standard of living, stringent cultural values, lack of socio-economic freedom need to be dealt with. It is necessary to understand that such policies can not be introduced over night nor can will they bear results overnight, such policies are a part of a gradual process of economic development and social enlightenment; it takes generations.
Rural development in Pakistan is a complex phenomenon, for social, cultural and religious values and mindsets play havoc by acting is a strong resisting force.
Rural Development policies which focus on the establishment of an education framework on the basis of which schools are set up, primary education as well technical expertise to upgrade the general level of literacy is imparted.
Infrastructure development projects in rural areas will improve living conditions and civic facilities as well as simultaneously, externalize employment opportunities.
It is necessary to empower farmers. Enhancing their asset ownership, introducing modern farm technology, educating them about micro financing options through which they can start small scale enterprises.
Promoting the concept of rural industrialization through Rural Development Programs will educate the rural masses, increase awareness and insight into the process or modernization, generate employment opportunities etc.
In relation to migrants in urban cities, the government should establish colonies for their settlement. It is essential to provide them with adequate income generating options, be it jobs demanding unskilled labour effort. Welfare programs for the rehabilitation of migrants, technical education made available are all necessary steps which need to be taken by the government.
Amongst the many other challenges faced by rural areas which force people to explore the option of migrating to urban cities, one major set back is of obsolete agricultural practices on the farm, and an ignorant attitude on behalf of the government towards forestry, fishing and livestock farming.
If the government introduces reforms to support as well as promote these particular sectors of the economy, a huge percentage of the rural population will experience an increase in aggregate household incomes. Emphasis through proper policy framework on the development of these industries can be a competitive advantage for a country like Pakistan and considerably add to the economy’s GDP.
Appendix 1:
Questionnaire for Rural Urban Migration
Q1) What are the factors responsible for migrating from rural areas to urban areas?
Q2) Does it have any relevance with getting better education?
Q3) Do you think if small cottage industries are set up in the rural areas it would stop the migration process?
Q4) Is the pre-migration expectancy level synchronized with the post migration situations?
Q5) Is it worth forgoing the agricultural employment for the tentative industrial employment with the family burden of eight to ten members?
Q6) How do you plan to cope up with the technological advancements?
Q7) What are your expectations from the government related to curb this problem?
Appendix 2:
Bibliography
http://www.worldbank.org.pk/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/PAKISTANEXTN/0,,contentMDK:21608863~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:293052,00.html http://www.interface.edu.pk/students/Oct-09/Importance-of-education.asp http://www.fspublishers.org/jass/past-issues/JASSVOL_1_NO_2/18.pdf http://www.google.com.pk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=urbanization&start=10&sa=N http://www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/09/urbanization-in-pakistan-highest-in.html UNDP Report 2009: Development and Migration
Pakistan Employment Trends 2008
The Impact of Urbanization on Family Structure 2008
Karachi – the City of Migrants by Mansoor Raza
Urbanization Challenges in Pakistan by Murtaza Haider
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