Survival or Building-up Strategy: A Case Study in Sri Lanka on the Link Between Initial Condition for Labour Migration and the Benefits for Families and Community

Abstract

Existing knowledge shows a positive link between migration and national level development in developing countries. This article examines whether such a positive link exists between the benefits from labour migration and the families of labour migrants and the communities they originate from in Sri Lanka. The great majority of labour migrant families are from relatively lower income groups in the society; their family resource base is relatively low, and they are mostly from a community belonging to a relatively less improved socio-economic environments. Although they bring resources to the country and contribute to the national economy, a large number of these families have not been able to show any significant socio-economic progress using the resources provided for migration. Similarly, the communities from which they originate often do not show any significant socio-economic improvement, though these communities can access these resources through these families. The implication is that whether migration benefits contribute to family and community progress is determined by the existing level of family and community resources of pre-migration situations. When these resource bases are relatively low, it is less likely to acquire a reasonable and long-lasting family and community-level progress from migration because migration has simply become a survival strategy for the majority of these families.