Changing faces of livelihood activities in migration: a case of north-south migration in Ghana

Augustine Tanle, University of Cape Coast

Livelihood activities of migrants have become of the recognized strategies for poverty reduction. To measure the outcomes of the migration process, migrants are either compared to their counterparts in the host population or their subjective assessment of their situation. The paper examines the livelihood activities of migrants from northern parts of Ghana to two municipalities in the south. 508 migrants were interviewed using the snowball technique. Before migration, 18% reported that they were unemployed compared to1% at destination. They were involved in diverse economic activities and considered themselves to be better-off than their counterparts at the place of origin. Although employed, they were found mostly in low-paying non-skilled jobs. Working in such jobs, they are not likely to move out of the poverty trap, although they consider their status to be better than at their places of origin. The results have implications for occupational mobility and poverty reduction in Ghana.