Discrimination against migrants in the world of work in Punjab

The present study based on primary data aims at addressing the issue of migration from lesser developed regions of the country to rural Punjab to gain a better understanding of the outcome of discrimination meted out to migrants. A startling revelation of the study is that migrant households as compared to their local counterparts could manage to secure significantly higher (p<0.05) monthly income per capita (`1919 versus `648) as well as per working member (`2028 versus `1616). The average monthly expenditure, in absolute terms as well as the percentage of income, has been observed to be significantly lower in the case of migrants (`1295, 46.3 percent as compared to that observed for their local counterparts (`2272, 77.8 percent). As a result, the migrant households’ monthly savings amounted to `1503, which is more than twice of what local households could. The study conclusively establishes that in spite of the hyped much wage rate discrimination in the migration phenomenon, the migrants in rural Punjab were able to earn more than their local counterparts and afford a better living for their families here as well as back home by way of remittances.