Rural-urban migration and social mobility in Bangladesh: an empirical study using stochastic process
Keywords:
rural-urban migration, stochastic process, occupational social mobility, economic social mobility, equilibrium, BangladeshAbstract
This paper aims to measure social mobility in terms of income and occupation by using stochastic process due to rural-urban migration. The data for this analysis were retrospective data gathered using three-stage cluster sampling in Rajshahi City corporation in Bangladesh. The Markov Chain Model detected substantial shifts in the distribution of the lowest income class of migrants < BDT 5000, and migrants had a clear tendency to shift to the higher and especially to the highest income category > BDT 30,000. So, it is evident that rural-urban migration's social mobility is remarkable in terms of income. After 13 years of migration, social mobility entered the equilibrium of their desired status in terms of income. The average stay period is the longest in the highest income group, and comparatively longer in the higher income groups than in the lower income groups, suggesting that rural-urban social mobility is remarkable in terms of income due to rural-urban migration. The Bartholomew and Prais indices suggest that there is high degree of income mobility in rural-urban migration. Because of rural-urban migration, occupational social mobility is also surprising. After 9 years of migration, occupational social mobility reached equilibrium with their own agreements. Occupational status as service has a high tendency to adapt to that status and occupational status as labor has the lowest tendency to adapt to that status. Service is the longest stay period in the same occupation status, and the lowest stay period in the same occupation status is labor The Bartholomew and Prais indices show that there is a high degree of occupation mobility in rural-urban migration.
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