Migrant Remittances and Household Labor Supply in the Post-Conflict Tajikistan

Olga N. Shemyakina, Georgia Institute of Technology
Patricia Justino, University of Sussex

This paper studies the impact of remittances on household labor allocations in the post-conflict context. We use the 2003 Tajik Living Standards Survey. We find that the amount of remittances received by a household has a negative impact on the number of labor hours supplied by men. Our results show no significant impact on labor supplied by women aged 16-65. Women in the conflict affected areas supply more labor per fortnight as compared to women in lesser affected areas. This effect may indicate the substitution of female labor for the labor of men who died in the 1992-1998 armed conflict or left the country during the 1992-1998 conflict. The death toll and migration were predominantly male effects. For men and women an increase in average wage in the community decreases number of hours supplied. This effect is greater for women, a result consistent with other studies on migration and remittances.