Migration and Rural-Urban Linkages in Ethiopia

2.6. Labour force and employment opportunitiesAccording to the qualitative interviews in both Kolfe and Shashemene, the majority ofthe migrants to urban areas tend to have low educational status and limited skills. Theyhave previously worked on small plots of their own land and rent their labour on atemporary basis on others’ farms. Likewise, the most common types of employment thatare available in the two urban centres are unskilled jobs in the public construction sector,the service sector, low-skilled domestic work, petty trade, craft work and urbanagriculture. Hence it is evident that, except for a limited number of jobs, most migrantscan more easily find employment in labour intensive low skilled jobs. The following boxshows the list of the occupations that the temporary and permanent urban migrants oftenengaged in.Box 1: Work undertaken by migrants in Kolfe and Shashemene by categories and typeJob Category Job TypeConstruction Loading and unloading, plastering, wood chopping, guardingSectorDomestic work Childcare, cook, cleaner, washerwomen, injera bakerService Sector Small restaurants, bar waitress, waiter, bar attendant, cook, guard, dish washer, cleanerTransport- cart-driver, porter, lottery ticket sellerStore-attendantSmall business Second-hand clothes sales, sale of drinks and food, sale of vegetable and fruits, grainretailer, kiosk, shoe-shiner,Craft work Weaver, blacksmithUrbanVegetable growing, gardening, digging and ploughingAgricultureOtherBegging, prostitution2.7. The role of brokers and the management of labour migrationRelative success in getting employment for the majority of the migrants lies in thesupport that they receive from their networks of iddir, families, kin, relatives and ethnicmembers already established in the urban areas. Most of the migrants mentioned thattheir first job was obtained through the informal networks that they had.There are a number of registered brokers in both Kolfe and Shashemene. These brokerswork in a union with five to ten members who serve as job dealers. Long-term migrantsor non-migrants in most of the neighbourhood commonly know the brokers and theirlocations. The brokers often provide eight hours’ service during workdays and they meetany jobseekers when they visit them. A few of the brokers have space to provideaccommodation services for those jobseekers that do not have shelter.The brokers obtain a service fee from both the employee and the employer upon theconclusion of an agreement. The charge ranges from 5 to 20 birr for a job from eachparty depending upon the wage. The minimum daily labourers’ wage in Kolfe is 6 birrper day, while in Shashemene it is 5 birr per day. The lowest average monthly salary is61