Migration and occupation in Mumbai: issues and implications

Dharmendra Pratap Singh, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

There has been growing a perception in some quarters particularly, among members of nativist political party that there is an increasing concentration of outsiders in the major occupations in Mumbai. In order to ascertain as to what extent this perception is real or imaginary, an attempt has been made in the present paper to examine the occupational status of migrants and non-migrants over last two decades. The analysis is based on National Sample Survey data of 1983, 1987-88, 1993 and 1999-2000. Results based on nearly 2000 households of each round show that about half of the migrants to Mumbai were from other states. However among the locals, the majority were occupied in professional and administrative jobs whereas the bulk of migrants were in service and production related occupations. Interestingly, the results show that the differences in occupational patterns of migrants and non-migrants have narrowed down over last two decades.