Abstract:
Sri Lanka has seen a tenfold increase in migrant numbers in the last two decades, and current estimates suggest over one million migrants working abroad with an annual outflow of about 200,000 persons. Over the years, foreign employment has generated substantial inflows of remittance, and relieved local unemployment pressure and provided employment opportunities especially to women.
This paper intends to identify and analyze whether such temporary labor migration of women essentially brings about positive impacts on savings and investments in Sri Lanka. Information was gathered through conducting interviews with total of 100 women migrant families in 4 urban and rural areas in Kegalle district of Sri Lanka. Secondary data were collected from books, articles, relevant websites and other relevant documents.
The result shows that migration of women truly raises the average income of their families and short term savings. Majority of migrant women in rural areas are not geared towards investing their increased income, but totally spend on family consumption, which fails to bring about any significant positive impact on savings and investments in the long term. Migrant women in urban areas are to be geared towards investing their increased income in short term small businesses.