The Effect of Parental Migration on Children Left Behind: Meta-Analytical Evidence on Education and Child Labour

Abstract

This study provides systematic review and meta-analytical evidence on how parental migration affects children left behind. We reviewed 44 papers on education and child labour, plus 57 studies on remittances and aspirations. We find no meaningful average effect of parental migration on education or labour outcomes. However, after correcting for publication bias and other study characteristics, migration is linked to less school disruption, likely due to improved finances, with no effect on educational performance/spending/duration, and mixed impacts on child labour. This aligns with the systematic reviews: Remittances tend to increase investment in education but do not necessarily translate into improved school performance. The aspiration channel stresses competing mechanisms between motivation derived from the observed parental sacrifice and a culture of migration reducing educational aspirations. Importantly, effects vary by context: benefits appear in low-income countries, while disruption dominates in upper-middle-income settings and particularly the Chinese context, highlighting the need for targeted policy support and calling policymakers of countries with high emigration and/or internal labour migration to be aware of the possible challenges of left-behind children and provide programs and safety nets for them.