The Winner Takes It All: Internal Migration, Education and Wages in Ethiopia

Previous studies of migration have mainly examined international dynamics. Yet, in-ternal migration is an important issue, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using the 2001 Ethiopia Child Labor Survey, a nationally representative household survey, this article examines internal migration in Ethiopia, focusing on the linkages among internal mi-gration, education and wages. The results suggest that migrants are better educated and obtain higher wages than non-migrants, controlling for other factors (including education), and also obtain higher returns to their education. In other words, the more educated reap higher returns from their education as a main effect, as well as higher returns to their education from migration than non-migrants—that is, ‘the winner takes it all’. This result should be of concern to policy makers in Ethiopia and else-where—especially in Sub-Saharan Africa—since individuals with low levels of educa-tion already are in a vulnerable group. The study therefore also discusses the policy implications of these results