Dimensión cognitiva

The analysis presented so far suggests that involvement in migration is a singular event.

However, many of the cases in which good levels of rapport were established and young villagers were followed over a considerable period of time multiple, rather than singular, involvement in migration seemed to be the norm. This section, therefore, analyses migration involving young people by migration event rather than by individual young migrant. This requires taking note of the various migration events young migrants may have been involved in – as is illustrated for one young migrant in Box 6.1.

Box 6.1: Migration over the young migrant’s life course

The case described in Box 6.1 is counted as four different migration events. Using this methodology a total of 98 different migration events were observed amongst the 75 young migrants. It should be noted that this total of 98 migration events is only a very

conservative number since information concerning a good number of young migrants was

Ekasone (first born in a household with five children)

________▐____________________▐______________________▐_________________▐__________

8 years 14/15 years 15/16 years 18 years

At age 8 she left Baan At age 14/15 her father’s At age 15/16 they ob- At about 18 years of age Naam together with her younger sister took tained domestic work, she returned to Baan younger sister her and her sister to in Bangkok and worked Naam just to move on to be fostered by her her home in Bangkok. in numerous households to Vientiane to start grandparents in an- There, the girls failed to for about one-and-a-half working in construction.

other district because her obtain domestic work as years. This time her younger younger siblings grew was hoped since they brother came along and up and because there were appeared too young. her younger sister remain- no children in the house- Therefore, they worked ed in Baan Naam.

hold of her paternal as child-minder for grandparents to help their aunt in Bangkok.

with daily chores

limited to observations recorded during the household survey only. Hence, possible subsequent migrations were not recorded.

Figure 6.4 plots the data by purpose of migration, sex, and age of migration concerning each individual migration event the 75 young migrants were observed to be involved in. In Figure 6.4, the category work comprises the following seven sub-categories: agricultural work; factory work; trade and shop work; joining the army; domestic work (including being a child-minder); work in a bar, restaurant, or guesthouse; and, work in construction.

The ‘other purposes’ category consists of migration for purposes of education, entering the Buddhist Sangha, and fosterage.

Figure 6.4: Main purpose of migration by age and sex for each migration event (n=98)

0 5 10 15 20 25

male female male female male female male female male female male female male female Male female

below 9 9-11 12-14 15-17 18-20 21-23 above 23 Age unclear

age-group and sex

number of observations

Unclear Other Work

Figure 6.4 confirms that the youngest migrants did not migrate for purposes of work.

However, work is the main motivation for migration from the age of 12 onwards.

Moreover, Figure 6.4 illustrates that the youngest migrant workers (the age groups 12-14 and 15-17) are predominantly female.

Out of the 98 different migrations, 51 migrations were of an internal nature. These can be sub-divided into seven events with a migration destination within the district in which Baan Naam is located, 35 within Vientiane Municipality or Vientiane Province, and in nine cases the migration destination was found in another Lao province. The 46 migration events with a destination in Thailand (in 1 case the destination remained unclear) can be sub-divided into 21 migrations with a destination in the Thai region of Isaan and 25 with a destination elsewhere in Thailand. Figure 6.5 plots this data by age of migration and sex.

Figure 6.5: Migration event by sex, age of migration and destination (n=98)

0 5 10 15 20 25

male female male female male female male female male female male female male female Male female

below 9 9-11 12-14 15-17 18-20 21-23 above 23 Age unclear

age groups & sex

number of migrations Unclear

Thailand Elsewhere Thailand Isaan Laos elsewhere in Laos Laos Vteprov/Mun Laos district

Figure 6.5 shows that all observed migrations undertaken below the age of nine took place took place within the Lao PDR. From the age of 12 onwards young migrants become involved in cross-border migration. However, particularly amongst the younger migrants it is predominantly girls, rather than boys, who become involved in migration of a cross-border type. This is partly so because girls outnumber boys in the young migrant sample in the 12-14 and 15-17 cohort and were also observed in greater number of migration events.

In addition, this pattern also follows from the overarching observation that Thailand is the most popular destination for migration for purposes of work, because we have seen above that young migrant girls tend to migrate for purposes of work mainly whereas young male migrants in the 12-14 age group are also involved in migration for other purposes.

Figure 6.6 illustrates the above in further detail. It shows that internal destinations may be most common when all purposes of migration are collapsed, yet, when it comes to

migration for purposes of work specifically, Thailand is the main destination. To be precise of the 75 migrations observed for purposes of work, 44 had a Thai destination and 31 a destination within Lao national borders. Furthermore, virtually all migrations undertaken for ‘other purposes’ had a Lao destination. The single exception constitutes a case in which a ten year old boy entered the Buddhist Sangha in Isaan, in the village of his maternal grandmother.

Figure 6.6: Migration by destination and purpose of migration (n=98)

Agri Constr Trade/shop factory rest/bar/guesth soldier domestic study fosterage novice

Work Other activities Unclear