Migration, social mobility and inequality are interrelated. Migration serves as a means for individuals to achieve better livelihood opportunities, allowing people to move to opportunity and up the social ladder. In this way, the migration of individuals from underdeveloped areas to more prosperous regions can reduce regional disparities in welfare outcomes and overall inequality.

But migration may exacerbate inequality, too, as it is predominantly individuals with higher skills and resources who are able to exercise these options to relocate. Therefore, understanding these migration realities is central to understanding the persistence and change in inequality and poverty in any context. Indeed, there is increasing recognition of the importance of measuring and analysing broader socio-economic mobilities too as these social dynamics undergird changes in inequality and poverty levels.

Policymaking to overcome inequality and poverty has to be grounded in an understanding of who is on the move and getting ahead and who is not and, most importantly, why there are such different realities in the same society. In this context, Dr Muna Shifa and Prof. Murray Leibbrandt discuss migration and social mobility and their implications for inequality in Africa.

This seminar is the second in a series on African inequalities as discussed in the book Inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa: Multidimensional perspectives and future challenges published in early 2025. The publication spans many dimensions of socio-economic inequalities and also includes chapters on policies and ways to address inequalities in the context of Africa. The book was edited by Anda David, Murray Leibbrandt, Vimal Ranchhod, and Rawane Yasser. 

About the speakers

Muna Shifa is a Senior Research Officer in SALDRU and a member of the South Africa node of the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR). She holds MCom and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of Cape Town and a BSc degree in Statistics from Addis Ababa University. Her research focuses on land tenure systems and rural livelihoods, urbanisation and development, social cohesion and inequality, and the analysis of poverty and inequality. She teaches postgraduate-level courses on complex surveys and measuring poverty and inequality at UCT’s School of Economics.    

Murray Leibbrandt holds the UCT Research Chair in Poverty and Inequality Research at SALDRU and is the Director of ACEIR. He was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Poverty and Inequality at UCT and SALDRU’s Director from 2013 until July 2023. His research focuses on the use of survey data, particularly longitudinal studies, to explore poverty, inequality, and labour market dynamics in South Africa and across Africa. Murray has served on advisory committees on key national policies and is part of the G20 Africa Expert Panel tasked with advising the Minister of Finance during South Africa’s G20 Presidency.