Migration as a Response to Intrahousehold Risk: Evidence from Indonesia

Elisabetta Magnani, University of New South Wales
Anu Rammohan, The University of Sydney

Using the Indonesian Family Life Survey, 2000 (IFLS-3), we examine whether care-giving responsibilities for the household’s sick elderly members impact the migration decisions of working-age adults. The main dependent variable in our analysis is a binary variable indicating the migration status of a working-age adult member. We define an economic migrant as an individual between the ages of 15-49 who migrated for a period of at least six months in the year prior to the survey for the purpose of finding employment. An individual is described as being a care-giver if two conditions are simultaneously met: (1) they are co-residing with an elderly member aged 50 + and (2) the elderly person is in ill-health. Our analysis predicts that participating in the migrant labour market or migrating for any reason will look less attractive if the individual has an elderly household member who is not in good health.