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Return Migration and Occupational Mobility: The Study of Return Migrants in Rural West Bengal, India

Pranamita Banerjee, Jawaharlal Nehru University

The paper focuses on return migration and how it impacts the occupational status of return migrants in rural West Bengal. An attempt has been made to understand how socio-economic background of migrants impacts their choice of occupation at the destination, further it is important to understand whether skills acquired by them at the destination helps them in getting jobs after their return. It aims for three objectives: a) to examine factors and processes of migration and return, b) to assess the occupation status of return migrants before migration, at the and after return, c) lastly to determine the factors influencing the choice of occupation at the destination and after the return. The study is based on primary data obtained from field investigations. A systematic survey has been conducted to cover those districts where migration from rural areas is eminent assuming that the districts where migration is high will also have a subsequent amount of return migrants. It was observed that the majority of the migrants face occupational change after return wherein they get to engage in agricultural work. Some of them continue doing the same work after acquiring the skill at the destination.

Keywords: Internal migration, Migrant populations, Mixed methods research, Population geography

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session P1.