Original scientific paper
Migrant Workers and Social Development – a Survey in Two Communes
Milan Mesić
; Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This report presents some partial results of a questionnaire survey of migrant workers in regard to their migration experience, the social and economic development of their home areas and their role in this. Altogether 57 people from the commune of Slunj (about 5% of the population) and 214 people from the commune of Čakovec (3.3% of the population, according to the 1981 census) were surveyed. These two communes are areas of high external migration, differing from one another in the degree of socioeconomic development. The initial hypothesis – i.e. that the communal origin of migrants, in such cases, can influence (as an independent variable) some of the attitudes, thoughts and orientations of respondents in regard to the wider problem of migration and development – was confirmed. Nevertheless, caution is needed in the interpretation of the data, both because of the limited sample and because, in some questions, a statistically significant difference was not found between the two communes. However, the effect of certain other objective traits of respondents was indicated – e.g. age, level of schooling, and sex. In general, it was discovered that migrant workers are still overwhelmingly return-oriented (82% explicitly declared their intention to return), that they are largely interested in the economic and political development of their home areas and, moreover, that they have important investment and entrepreneurial plans for their home areas and countries.
Keywords
migrant workers; social development; Slunj; Čakovec
Hrčak ID:
127665
URI
Publication date:
31.8.1990.
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