An Empirical Study of Turkish Economic Migrants in North Cyprus

Year 2000, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 127 - 138, 01.12.2000

Özay Mehmet M. Tahiroğlu

Abstract

This paper provides empirical evidence on Turkish migrants illegally working in North Cyprus. The evidence is based on a special sample survey (N = 513) conducted, with the cooperation of TRNC Labor Ministry, during the Fall and Winter 1999. The evidence demonstrates the existence of a Todaro-type flow of rational migration, prompted by a combination of push-pull factors. In particular, the survey demonstrates that migrant workers, on the average, double their daily wages in North Cyprus compared to wages in the sending locations, mostly in the poorer South and Southeastern regions of Turkey, just 60 miles to north. Significant policy implications emerge from the study