The Surabaya, Indonesia migration study: Background

Surabaya is the largest city within Indonesia, significantly smaller than the primate, capital city, Jakarta. Laurie McCutcheon's study of Surabaya deals with the issues in the analysis of migrant adjustment. The sample designed for investigating the adjustment of migrants in Surabaya was a multi-stage random sample of the population 20-44 years of age. Migrants to Surabaya tended to have characteristics more positively associated with adjustment than long-term migrants. The primary reason males gave for moving to Surabaya was "better work" or a "better life in the city". Chain migration to migration was not very extensive among migrants to Surabaya; assistance from Kin and friends in the moving process was minimal. The comparison of migrants and non-migrants in Surabaya, like that of Seoul, Korea, focused on three dimensions of adjustment: occupation and employment; housing and the possession of consumer durables; attitudes which reflected traditionalism or modernity.