This article is about the process of socioeconomic transformation in rural Malawi. It examines the survival strategies and enterprising spirit of Malawian migrant workers and their households. It argues that the strategies of these people often went beyond survival in the provision of basic necessities. Those who had the economic drive and entrepreneurial skills were able to use the proceeds of labor migration to improve their own and their households' socioeconomic life. In March 1988, the South African Chamber of Mines stopped a century-old tradition of recruiting migrant workers from Malawi. This has arrested and put to a halt a process of accumulation taking place in the households of the returned migrant workers in the rural economy. Thus, the effects of the retrenchment of the workers will spread from the migrant and his family through the economic and social wellspring of all sectors of rural communities and their commercial lives.

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Migrant Workers Africa south of the Sahara economics population demography developing country Population Dynamics Standard Of Living Developing Countries Southern Africa rural population South Africa migrant worker economic development coping strategy health care manpower labor migration rural economy Health Manpower Socioeconomic Factors Africa socioeconomics Article welfare economics migration population and population related phenomena Demographic Factors English Speaking Africa socioeconomic change Africa, Southern Malawian immigrants Emigration and Immigration Economic Factors Transients and Migrants Population Characteristics Human Resources Demographic Impact Labor Force employment Malawi