Feature

Student Tracks Colombian Migration and the Labor Force

At a recent brown bag talk, Harris School PhD student Valentina Calderón-Mejia discussed her research on internal displacement in Colombia--including the roles and societal impacts of civil conflict, migration, and labor markets. The February presentation was sponsored by the student organization Latin America(n) Matters.

Calderón-Mejia and her coauthor, Ana María Ibáñez Londoño from the Universidad de los Andes, found that in Colombia internally displaced persons (IDPs) typically moved to escape armed conflict--leaving violent, rural parts of the country for safer, urban areas--rather than to find better jobs, schools, or other opportunities. "What's going on here is that you see an increase in the speed of traditional rural-urban migration," compared to other developing countries in Latin America. Nearly 8 percent of the Colombian workforce migrates out of necessity, not choice.

But the Colombian government is not harnessing the potential of its growing urban workforce, preferring instead to encourage migrants to go back to the countryside. The authors analyzed the 13 largest metropolitan areas in Colombia and found that, because of the violence, most IDPs choose to stay in the cities even though it was difficult adjusting to urban life, employment was hard to find, and the government did not provide much assistance. Consequently, "internally displaced persons have substantial effects on the labor market," said Calderón-Mejia.

"These immigration flows produce negative impacts on wages and employment opportunities [for] all workers but are particularly strong for low-skilled workers," she explained. Skilled workers in Colombia will typically work legally, but unskilled or low-skilled workers may end up in informal market jobs, which are not subject to minimum wage laws. According to Calderón-Mejia's research, IDPs receive overall only 80 percent of the legal minimum wage, with women fairing even worse at only 50 percent.

"Most of the effects of migration are on females and children," she said. In many displaced families, women will take almost any job they can find, often working for very low wages. This leaves the older children responsible for the household chores and as a result frequently dropping out of school.

"The most important issue is that the participation rate [in the formal labor market] falls as a result of migration," said Calderón-Mejia. "What you have to ask is: do these people go back to school, or are they engaging in the criminal sector?" She pointed out that the latter would contribute to the ongoing violence, displacement, and poverty within Colombia-a cycle from which it is difficult to break.

Latin America(n) Matters (LAM) is a student association in the Harris School that focuses on Latin America and public policy. They work closely with the Booth School of Business's Latin American Business Group as well as the University's Center for Latin American Studies. LAM hosts events every month with students and guest speakers examining a wide range issues, including the effects of the financial crisis, development issues, and current research in Latin American studies.

By Elizabeth Vivirito