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Educational and gender heterogeneity of the rural-urban earnings premium: New evidence from Norway

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  • Galster, George C.
  • Osland, Liv

Abstract

We explore urban earnings premiums for young, native, rural-to-urban movers in Norway. Using an augmented difference-in-differences estimator (DiD-TR) on microdata we challenge previous claims about urban earnings premium's size and sources. Conventional econometric estimators understate the static premium and overstate dynamic premiums. We find that migrants exhibit lower mean but faster pre-move earnings growth than non-migrants. Post-move, the static earnings premium dominates. The observed trajectory is related to frequent pre-move changes of industrial sector, presumably to obtain better job-worker matches. Post-move, these changes occur less frequently. Highly educated females exhibit largest static premiums (34%), less-educated females least (24%), males an intermediate amount. Our findings suggest that cities primarily generate earnings premiums through agglomeration-based efficiencies and superior job-worker matches varying heterogeneously by education and gender.

Suggested Citation

  • Galster, George C. & Osland, Liv, 2024. "Educational and gender heterogeneity of the rural-urban earnings premium: New evidence from Norway," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:regeco:v:105:y:2024:i:c:s0166046224000139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2024.103989
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Earnings; Agglomeration; Internal migration; Gender gaps; Urbanization; Education differentials;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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