ABSTRACT
Operational definitions of circulation vary and may include people temporarily absent from their permanent homeplaces from one day to several decades. The earliest studies on circulation in the Third World were focused upon Black Africa due to the heavy male labor migration to cities and mines found in that region. Most studies on circulation conducted in this region have been carried out in Indonesia or Thailand and have focused either on rural communities or on particular groups within the very largest cities which are characterized by high rates of circulation, such as various informal sector jobs. The chapter examines the characteristics and implications of circulation in our three largest study cities: Medan, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro. It explores the characteristics of those identified as circulators, including their age, sex, income, occupation, homeplace, and educational level. In Medan a different approach was used to gather information about circulators and therefore our results are not entirely comparable with regard to circulation.
