Migration and transformation of industrial and occupational structures in Taiwan.

This study examines 1) migrants' role in supplying needed manpower to the manufacturing and service sectors in Taiwan, 2) whether migrants are more likely to take jobs with advanced technology than nonmigrants, and 3) whether migrants are more responsive than nonmigrants to industrial change. The main source of data for this paper is the October round of a monthly labor force survey conducted by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics in Taiwan. 511 village level units and 16,500 households were selected for the survey. This paper bases its analysis on data from the migration surveys of 1980-1985 for persons aged 15 and over. From 1952-1985, the primary sector decreased drastically, while both the secondary and tertiary sectors experienced substantial increases. By 1985, the secondary and tertiary sectors each had a share of 41% and the primary sector had 18%. Taiwan has also experienced drastic technological changes in the last 3 decades. The data supports the theory of migrant selectivity and suggests that migrants are more likely to take technologically advanced jobs than are nonmigrants. Migrants were also reluctant to join the extractive sector. The differential pattern of industrial distribution indicates that migrants play a positive role in industrialization. To assess the contribution of migrants in the transformation of occupational structure, the author applied the shift share approach twice. Results show that migrants decreased employment of agricultural and sales workers, but increased employment of other occupational categories. Migrants were more responsive to industrial shifts than nonmigrants for most occupational categories. For migrants, the percentages of occupational shift were rather small, while industrial shift accounted for the overwhelming majority of percentage net shift.