ABSTRACT
Labour migration, or rather, labour absenteeism—the temporary absence in wage labour of some sections of a given population from their usual place of residence—seems particularly to be characteristic of, though not peculiar to, what have been called 'plural societies'. The estimates for male absentees gave negative results for two areas: Kariba and Mutema area in Chipinga. This chapter explores the relationships among some variables whose connections may be established by analytic induction but which may be tested on data relating to the whole of Rhodesia in 1962. Unfortunately the figures do not break down the Rhodesian totals into those which come from localities close at hand as against those from further afield in Rhodesia. The agro-ecological survey produced a map showing the distribution of these regions. Variations in dates of survey and of the local coverage of some of the sociological studies reduces the value of these comparisons to some extent.
