Migration, School Attainment and Child Labor: Evidence from Rural Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the impact of temporary migration by a household member on the schooling investment of children residing within the house taking into consideration that at least one in every four household in rural areas report one migrant. Regression analysis performed on data extracted from Pakistan Rural Household Survey (PRHS) 2001-02 reveals that children from migrant households have higher enrollment and retention rates as opposed to children from non-migrant houses residing in the same village. Migrated household children also report lower working hours indicating positive impact for child labor within Pakistan. Migrant households experience a rise in income due to inflow of remittance and this factor results in educational gains; although the gains are larger for girls in contrast to boys. 

The results astonishingly reveal that female headship after migration of male members does not translate into benefits for girls schooling but rather creates a negative impact as evidenced by higher girls dropout rate. Households seem to experience work pressure without male leadership and this poses a threat to the ability of girls to realize the positive effects of migration.