Bound for the city: A study of rural to urban labour migration in Afghanistan

This report analyses internal labour migration in Afghanistan. It aims to uncover the reasons for and patterns of rural to urban labour migration as part of household livelihood strategies and risk management. Almost a thousand people were surveyed in the three cities of Kabul, Herat and Jalalabad.

Rural to urban migration is increasing exponentially in Afghanistan. The survey showed that young adults are most likely to migrate. The majority interviewed were married, and over half had bought their families with them to the city. Most provided the main source of income for their families through migration.

Push factors include rural poverty, high levels of landlessness or homelessness and a dormant agricultural sector. This research highlights how rural to urban migration is an outcome of prevailing rural poverty. While migrants may perceive an improvement in their economic situation, migration is also responsible for shifting rural poverty to urban settings.

Key findings of this research include: 

• the survey dismisses the notion that agricultural seasonality is a push factor in rural to urban migration in Afghanistan;
• it found that for rural to urban migrants, access to labour markets is difficult. Unskilled work in construction sites remains a key source of employment regardless of migrants’ skills;
• the urban jobs market is simply not increasing in relation to the influx of migrants coming to cities looking for work;
• access to labour markets is also difficult since most migrants lack the social networks needed;
• those that can establish social networks have more success, and for women, support from male social connections is necessary for finding employment;
•  there is widespread perception of an “urban advantage” amongst the migrants: the feeling they have improved their plight simply by migrating from rural to urban.

While this study does not make suggestions for migration policy per se, it includes recommendations for interventions that can be developed both at the source and at the destination of migration. These include:

• creation of programmes that promote employment in non-agricultural activities in rural areas;
• expansion of schemes to provide low-cost housing for the rural and urban poor;
• provision of skill enhancement opportunities in the urban areas;
• increased facilities for on-the job training in urban employment sectors, among others;
• a comprehensive poverty alleviation strategy, however, is urgently needed to supplement these.

Migration has proven to be difficult to control directly. However, policy interventions can be taken to maximise the benefits and minimise the harmful effects of migration.

This study concludes that there are many different areas related to migration which need more exploration. Knowledge about the rural contexts in Afghanistan which usually push people to the cities is still not comprehensive. There is also no comprehensive understanding about the urban labour markets which accommodate the migrants.