International Migration and Labour Force Participation Rate: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa
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Date
2021
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Publisher
Redeemer’s University Journal of Management and Social Sciences
Abstract
In recent time, the development of international migration as a simple essential feature of nearly
all developed countries gave an indication to the strength and stability of the fundamental issue.
Previous studies also established that migrant workers play a significant role in the labour
market and contribute to the economies and societies of both their homes and destination
countries. It is in the light of this that the study examined the interaction between international
migration and labour force participation rate in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1990-2018. The
study employed system Generalized Method of Moment to analyse a panel data of 46 SSA
countries using variables such as net migration, international migrant stock (total), net
remittances, labour force participation rate (total) and other control variables. Data were
sourced from World Bank Development Indicator (2018). Results showed that net migration in
the receiving countries has a significant positive relationship with labour force participation rate
while the number of international migrant in the countries of origin revealed a significant
negative relationship with the labour force participation rate. The findings further revealed that
net remittances inflow has a significant negative relationship with labour force participation rate
of the countries of origin. The study based on the findings, recommended that policy should be
put in place to control the number of immigrants’ job seekers entering the sub-region which can
spur unemployment for the receiving countries. Also inflow of remittances should be discouraged
as a means of reducing migration outflow as the long run effect can trigger reduction in the
labour force participation rate in sub-Saharan African countries.
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Keywords
International migration, Labour force participation rate, System GMM, SubSaharan Africa, Remittances