A subsample of 325 migrants drawn from the 1970 National Demographic Census of the Dominican Republic was analyzed to describe social and economic characteristics of recent rural-urban migrants and determine their employment changes. The sample was limited to heads of households who had lived in their present location from one to five years. Males accounted for 84% of the sample. Characteristics measured were family size, level of education (the majority had less than a fourth grade education), age, and age at migration. Better employment was found to be the biggest factor in interanl migration, having motivated more than 50%. Change of occupation had occurred for one-fourth of the migrants, with a significant increase in percentages of heads of households employed in government, semi-skilled occupations, food processing, personal services, community sales, and unskilled work. Though recent migrants greatly improved their work opportunities by moving, employment of these unskilled migrants as rural-urban migration continues would seem to hinge on growth of traditional sector jobs in urban areas. Further implications were for more rural educational opportunities, the need to create rural farm and nonfarm employment opportunities, and increased investment in rural infrastructure. (RS)