Abstract

COVID-19-induced migration presents multiple challenges, both direct and indirect, to labor markets. For urban migrants who lose their jobs, alternatives are scarce: since many cannot survive without daily wages, they must journey back to their home villages, where employment options are already in short supply. Once home, migrants face social stigma and limited labor market opportunities. Since internal migration is often geographically concentrated, mass returns also impose large local labor market shocks on sending villages. This project seeks to understand the economic consequences of COVID-induced migrant returns and to help governments mitigate negative effects while supporting both rural and urban labor markets. We will conduct high-frequency surveys of return migrants in several states in northern India with a high proportion of out-migrants, and use surveys of local elected leaders and administrative data on participation in India’s massive public works program to understand and contribute to government efforts to create local labor market opportunities.

Questionnaire Description

As the COVID-19 crisis spreads across developing countries, organizations working to understand impacts on vulnerable populations have had to adapt their research and outreach strategies. A research team, including Rohini Pande at EGC and Charity Troyer Moore at Yale MacMillan Center, have been adapting their research methods to the era of COVID-19 to study how the pandemic has impacted those considered most vulnerable – including women and migrants. The research team has created, adapted, and shared select survey modules relating to COVID-19 from phone surveys conducted in India.

Implementing Organization

Yale Economic Growth Center (EGC)

Project Data Collection Mode

Researchers (*corresponding author)

Rohini Pande, Charity Troyer Moore, Simone Schaner, Yusuf Neggers, Maulik Jagnani, Jenna Allard

Partners

Yale Economic Growth Center (EGC), Yale MacMillan Center

Questionnaire Usage Notes

Recommended citation: Yale Economic Growth Center (2020). If you have questions or comments relating to the survey modules, or recommendations on channels to distribute them for research purposes, please contact the research team.

Questionnaire File Type

Reader-friendly survey instrument

Questionnaire Language(s)

English

Questionnaire Usage Permissions

Use with attribution