Poverty Reducing Potential of Labour Migration for Construction Work: Lessons from South Asia

Abstract

Rural-urban migration for construction work is widely characterised as forced migration, offering few prospects for economic or social improvement in the lives of those who move for work. Within mainstream advocacy there is a preoccupation with working conditions, wages, costs and risks. We sought to better understand migrants’ own perceptions of their journey, the circumstances that migrants have come from, and where they feel they are headed to.