Internal migration is an important instrument for filling demand and supply gaps, thereby providing dynamism in the labour market. Migrants play a very important role in urban development. Migrants do all types of jobs which are generally rejected by locals and in the process, they have become an important segment of the urban labour market in relatively developed states of India. With the development of Punjab's economy, the demand for labour increased at a fast rate. A major share of the migrant workers working in agriculture, industrial, and informal sectors of Punjab belong to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Odisha. The present paper made an attempt to examine the socioeconomic factors affecting internal migration decisions in India. The study was based on a survey of 250 migrants working in the urban informal sector in Ludhiana city. The study identified the factors affecting migration decision by using logit and probit regression approach. The study found that both push and pull factors were responsible for internal labour migration in India. Lack of job opportunities, agriculture not being profitable, unemployment, lack of land ownership in the native place, and family problems pushed people in backward states to work in more developed and prosperous states of Punjab where even informal sector employment is more remunerative. Better working conditions, support, and help from relatives and friends who had migrated earlier were the main pull factors.

1. Agasty, M. P. (2016). Impact of rural - urban labour migration on education of left behind children: Evidence from rural India. Arthshastra Indian Journal of Economics & Research, 5(4), 48 - 56. DOI: 10.17010/aijer/2016/v5i4/100780
2. Bhagat, R. B. (2009). Internal migration in India: Are the underclass more mobile ? Paper presented at 26th IUSSP General Population Conference, Marrakech, Morocco, September 27 - October 2, 2009. Retrieved from <a href=http://iussp2009.princeton.edu/papers/90927 target="_blank">http://iussp2009.princeton.edu/papers/90927</a>
3. Bhagat, R. B., & Mohanty, S. (2009). Emerging patterns of migration and contribution of migration in urban growth in India. Asian Population Studies, 5 (1), 5 - 20. DOI: 10.1080/17441730902790024
4. Chakraborty, D., & Kuri, P. K. (2013). Rural-urban migration and urban informal sector in India: An inter-state analysis. International Journal of Current Research, 5 (4), 950 - 956.
5. Government of India. (2001). Report of the working group on social security for Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07). India : Planning Commission, GOI.
6. Government of Punjab. (2004). Human development report 2004. Punjab, Chandigarh : Government of Punjab.
7. Kaur, B., & Gupta, S. (2016). Pull and push factors affecting labour migration in Punjab manufacturing units: A case study of Ludhiana. International Journal in Applied Studies and Production Management, 2(2), 55 - 68.
8. Kaur, B., Singh, J. M., Garg, B. R., Singh, J., & Singh, S. (2011). Causes and impact of labour migration: A case study of Punjab agriculture. Agricultural Economics Research Review, 24, 459 - 466.
9. Kohli, S. P. S. (2010). Inter-state immigration into Punjab during 1971-91. Retrieved from <a href=http://archive.org/details/Inter-stateImmigrationIntoPunjabDuring1971-91 target="_blank">http://archive.org/details/Inter-stateImmigrationIntoPunjabDuring1971-91</a>
10. Kumar, N., & Sidhu, A. S. (2005). Pull and push factors in labour migration: A study of brick-kiln workers in Punjab. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 41(2), 221 - 232.
11. Malhotra, N. (2015). Factors in internal labour migration in India. ENVISION - International Journal of Commerce and Management, 9, 47 - 55.
12. Mehra, S., & Singh, G. (2013). Determinants and factors related to migration of labourers to industries in Ludhiana, Punjab. Arthshastra Indian Journal of Economics & Research, 2(5), 35 - 42. doi: 10.17010/aijer/2013/v2i5/54529
13. Mehra, S., & Singh, G. (2014). Migration: A propitious compromise. Economic & Political Weekly, 49 (15), 24 - 25.
14. Misra, S. N. (1998). Dynamics of rural urban migration in India. New Delhi : Anmol Publication Pvt. Ltd.
15. Mitra, A., & Murayama, M. (2008). Rural to urban migration: A district level analysis for India (IDE Discussion Paper No. 137). Retrieved from <a href=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10844680.pdf target="_blank">https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/10844680.pdf</a>
16. Raman, L., & Bhagat, R. B. (2006). Trends and patterns of internal migration in India: 1971 - 2001. Paper Presented at the Annual Conference of Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Retrieved from <a href=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265278165 target="_blank">https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265278165</a>
17. Ratha, D., Mohapatra, S., & Scheja, E. (2011). Impact of migration on economic and social development : A review of evidence and emerging issue (Policy Research Working Paper). doi: <a href=https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-5558 target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-5558</a>
18. Saikia, D. (2008). Economic conditions of the in-migrant workers in Kerala: A case study in the Trivandrum district. Journal of Indian Research, 2 (4), 33 - 46.
19. Sethi, S., Ghuman, R. S., & Ukpere, W. I. (2010). Socio-economic analysis of the migrant labourers in Punjab : An empirical analysis. African Journal of Business Management, 4 (10), 2042 - 2050.
20. Singh, L., Singh, I., & Ghuman, R. S. (2007). Changing character of rural economy and migrant labour in Punjab. (MPRA Paper No. 6420). Retrieved from <a href=http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6420/ target="_blank">http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/6420/</a>
21. Singh, V. K., Kumar, A., Singh, R. D., & Yadava, K. N. S. (2011). Changing pattern of internal migration in India: Some evidence from census data. International Journal of Current Research, 3 (4), 289 - 295.
22. Sridhar, K. S., Reddy, A. V., & Srinath, P. (2010). Is it push or pull? Recent evidence from migration in India (Final Report 10-04). Paper submitted on 10th Round Regional Research Competition of South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI). Retrieved from <a href=http://www.shram.org/uploadFiles/20180104024710.pdf target="_blank">http://www.shram.org/uploadFiles/20180104024710.pdf</a>
23. Srivastava, R. (2009). Impact of internal migration in India. Migrating Out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium (Working Paper No. 41). Retrieved from <a href=http://www.rmmru.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/workingpaper41.pdf target="_blank">http://www.rmmru.org/newsite/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/workingpaper41.pdf</a>
24. Vinayakam, K., & Sekar, S. P. (2013). Rural to urban migration in an Indian metropolis: Case study Chennai city. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (JHSS), 6 (3), 32 - 35.