Paper short abstract:

How the demographic composition of migrants' households, including ethnicity, shapes the utilization of remittances in home districts of sampled migrants'. This study uses data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey 6 (2014), involving longitudinal survey of a nationwide sample of 18,000 households.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the impacts of the current forms of internal migration and shifts in labour seeking behavior of youth within the African context using rural Ghana as a case study. This study utilises data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey 6 (GLSS) (2014), involving longitudinal survey of a nationwide sample of 18,000 households. This paper examines the nature and pattern of out-migration from sending areas and how the demographic characteristics and composition of migrants' households, including ethnicity, shapes the application and utilization of remittances in home districts of sampled migrants'. We also examine the inequalities associated with this pattern and how it is impacting on local economies and class structures of sending areas. The results of our analysis indicate a strong relationship between the patterns, practices and utilisation of remittances and the respective norms and social values embedded within the migrants' ethnic identity. The research also shows those ethnic groups with strong internal cohesion and less assimilation remit more than those from more ethnically heterogeneous groups and that migrants from matrilineal societies in this study remit more than those of patrilineal groups. Ethnic values also shape the type of investment that migrants and their families pursue at the home areas. We conclude that migration is spurring the development non-farm diversification activities, with a preference for generating rapid financial returns compared to farming. We recommend the introduction Conditional cash Transfer Programmes as part of an effort to reduce emerging inequalities particularly for the elderly with no access to remittances.