FAMILY MIGRATION AND RETURN MIGRATION
As the period of urban employment has lengthened, the family separation entailed by long-term migration of men has become less acceptable. For some migrants, increases in urban wages are sufficient to offset the significance of rural income forgone if the family moves to the city. Urban earning opportunities for women are also less constrained. In some areas of tropical Africa the breakdown of communal control over land has transformed it into an asset that can be realised. All these factors have made family migration more common. Although family migration is usually for a long term, typically the working life of the head of household, it is not necessarily seen as a permanent