PATTERNS OF EMIGRATION FROM KERALA 33 oil prices since October 1973. According to the estimates made by the State Bureau of Economics and Statistics, there were, in November-December 1977, 4.32 lakh Keralites, employed outside Kerala and 1.35 lakhs among them in areas outside India. The district-wise distribution of these "employed migrants" is given in Table 1. The districts with the largest number of persons employed outside Kerala (in India and abroad) are Trichur, Alleppey and Gannanore, and the districts with the largest number of persons employed outside India are Trichur, Trivandrum and Malap-puram. The present study attempts to analyse the patterns of emigration from Kerala to foreign countries, based largely on information collected through field surveys in two villages selected from two different centres of emigration. Patterns of emigration are likely to differ when differences exist in the economic background of the emigrants, their educational levels, the direction of emigration (the countries of destination) and the nature of jobs they are able to secure in the host countries. The initial resource position of the household might determine not only the type of job and the salary secured abroad by the emigrant, but also the process of emigration itself. DiSTRICT-VN0 /'ISE DTSTRIB UTSIDE K.KRTotal perso FABLIUTION LALA Ams 1 I OF KERALITES EMIND OUTSIDE INDI/ ^LOYED\ Total pt ?rsons Districtj outside Ker^ ala outside 1 ^ndia State Number Persons % to Number Persons %(0 per 1000 Total per 1000 Total population population Trivandrum 38912 17.7 9.01 20530 9.3 15.19 Quilon 52038 21.6 12.05 13735 5.7 10.16 Alleppey 72606 34.2 16.81 14777 7.0 10.93 Kottayam 19935 13.0 4.62 4987 3.2 3.69 Idikki 1956 2.6 0.45 467 0.6 0.34 Ernakulam 17462 8.1 4.04 4543 2.1 3.36 Trichur 79512 37.4 18.41 26367 12.4 19.51 Malappuram 37188 20.0 8.61 19762 10.6 14.62 Palghat 35707 21.2 8.27 3171 1.9 2.34 K-ozhikode 23476 11,2 5.44 9056 4.3 6.70 Gannanore 53096 22.4 12.29 17792 7.5 13.16 KERALA 431888 20.2 100.00 135187 6.3 100.00 SOURCE: Bureau tion", of Economics and Statistics, November-December, 1977, Kerala, "Census (unpublished). of Employment Migra-