Impact of Migration on Time Use Pattern of Left-Behind Male and Female in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

This study uses neoclassical labour theory to examine the association between migration and the time-spending behaviour of left behind family members by gender and the female relationship with migrated members. Using two-year panel data, this study controls the individual-level time-invariant factors to correct potential self-selection. The study finds that migration of a family member is associated with decreasing off-farm labour of both working-age females and males. Additionally, it is observed that the leisure time of working-age females increases while their work burden on domestic labour decreases. Migration also increases off-farm labour of left-behind wives when only the husbands migrate and decreases off-farm and domestic labour, and increases the leisure of left-behind mothers when only sons/daughters migrate. Thus, migration reshapes the left behind family members’ time allocation between labour and leisure with a heterogeneous impact on the wives and mothers.