1. Labor Migration from Pakistan
- Author
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Malik, Rabia, Karell, Daniel, and Shah, Syed
- Subjects
Digital experiment ,Sociology ,Political Science ,FOS: Political science ,Comparative Politics ,Pakistan ,South Asia ,Social and Behavioral Sciences ,Labor migration ,FOS: Sociology - Abstract
A large literature on labor migration seeks to understand and mitigate exploitative conditions for low-skilled labor migrants in host countries by focusing on conditions in the host country. Less attention has been given to factors in home countries that may affect migrants’ eventual circumstances. This study examines how the information labor migrants gain in their home countries while looking for overseas jobs affects their migration process and outcome. We conduct a digital field experiment in a high out-migration city in Pakistan, the second largest supplier of temporary low-skilled labor migrants to the Gulf Cooperation Council states. Our information treatments are administered to respondents via a phone app, which is not only a low-cost and accessible way to share information with individuals but also allows us to collect outcome data from our respondents at several points in time. Specifically, the treatments provide objective and accurate information to respondents about modal job contracts and about the best-performing job recruiters in their neighborhoods. Together, our research design and treatments allow us to analyze several outcomes of interest, including whether the provision of information leads migrants to have an easier time navigating the process of getting a job, get better job contracts, work with higher quality agents and be more satisfied with the migration experience. Overall, our project allows us to empirically evaluate an important common assumption that if low-skilled migrants simply “knew more” – that is, had more relevant and accurate information - they would not allow themselves to have negative migration trajectories and outcomes.
- Published
- 2022
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