Of Labour Migration, Gender and Work: Post Migration Employment Patterning and Mobility in Urban Maharashtra, India

Debangana Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Using the unit level data of NSS 64th Round the present paper explains the changing nature of urban labour markets and consequent changes in the composition and work characteristics of the urbanward migrants. It highlights the anatomy of urban exclusion and contends that marginalization and exclusionary phenomena are visible among the migrants in the state of Maharashtra in the form of stereotyping of work and retarded upward employment mobility of women migrants vis-a-vis men migrants. It throws light on the determinants affecting employment mobility among migrants by culling out a categorization of nature of work of migrants based on their activity status and occupations (which may be taken as the closest possible proxy of formal and informal employment). Cox regression analysis reveals that the transition from informal to formal employment with duration of stay varies across gender, educational levels and location of migrants, indicating changing nature of urban labour markets.