ABSTRACT
Managing the cost of migration 1 is increasingly becoming a concern for the state and non-state actors in international migration. The high cost of migration makes a migrant vulnerable in both the country of origin and destination. Even though a number of attempts at the international and national level to reduce or manage the cost of migration exists, the concerns remains the same. The major cost of migration is borne by the country of origin. But the lack of data and information about the cost is a major hindrance for engagement. A panel data on migration cost is provided by the 20-year-old Kerala Migration Survey series. Four decades of data provides a look into the cost of migration from a major sending sub-national state in India called Kerala. The chapter analyses the cost of labour migration from the state since the oil boom. A quantitative analysis of four series of surveys had been conducted. The result shows that the cost of migration from Kerala is decreasing over the years. The chapter argues that even though the state government intervenes better than many of its counterparts, the decline in the cost of migration is a result of the increase in semi-high-skilled migration from the state. However, the slow rate of decrease in the cost of migration in the 21st century is influenced by the reducing influence of social networks in recruitment.
