MIGRATION AND TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

Abstract

This paper examines the relative education and employment outcomes among young migrants and non-migrants in Greater Jakarta in 2009/2011. Using data from the 2010 Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Survey that includes 3006 respondents aged 20 to 34 years old, the paper highlights the importance of the age at migration in influencing the patterns of schooling and employment among young people. Patterns of schooling and employment are investigated for four groups of young people: those who migrated to Greater Jakarta between ages 0 and 10, between ages 10 and 17, after age 17, and non-migrants. We found that young people who migrated to Greater Jakarta at 10–17 years of age are over-represented in the lower spectrum of occupational rankings, even though they are more likely to be employed than non-migrants and those who came to Jakarta at other ages.

Keywords:

• rural-urban migration
• Jakarta
• age at migration
• human capital of migrants

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank Budi Utomo, Heru Suparno, Dadun, Yelda Fitria and Ferdinand Siagian from the Centre for Health Research, University of Indonesia for their hard work and collaboration during data collection and data entry of the 2010 Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Survey. A special thanks also goes to the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Adolescent Life Course in Developing Countries and participants of the International Seminar on Youth Migration and Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries organised by IUSSP and the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica (IBGE) and the Centre for Demographic, Urban and Environmental Studies, El Colegio de Mexico, in Rio de Janeiro, 8–10 December 2010, where an earlier version of this paper was presented. Finally, the paper has benefitted from the comments of two anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1. Our sample is likely to under-represent itinerant workers, e.g., construction workers who sleep on the site, and those ‘living rough’ or in mass accommodation facilities (barracks) in Greater Jakarta. Most of these people will be migrants from outside of Jakarta. It was also difficult sometimes to interview those working in households as domestic servants due to opposition from the household head. Domestic servants are also likely to be mainly migrants. Many people in these categories were interviewed but, in sum, the migrant sample in the survey is likely to somewhat under-represent those working in less regular occupations.