New Perspective on Youth Migration: Motives and Family Investment Patterns

Migration research commonly assumes that youth migrate as dependent family members or are motivated by current labor opportunities and immediate financial returns. These perspectives ignore how migration experiences, specifically motives and remittance behaviors, are unique to youth. Both education and labor migration become more common with increasing age. Education migration is more common among youth born outside the capital and those first enrolled in school on time. Labor migration differs little by region of birth, and is associated with late school enrollment. Moreover, rather than sending remittances home, many youth migrants continue to receive financial support from their parents. Provision of financial support to youth migrants is associated with current school enrollment. Female youth are more likely to be migrants, and less commonly receive support from their household of origin.