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The Two-Body Problem: Dual-Earner Job Search, Migration, and Labor Market Outcomes

Author

Listed:
  • Hanno Foerster

    (Boston College)

  • Robert Ulbricht

    (Boston College)

Abstract

We develop a spatial directed searc hmodel of dual-earner households in which spouses choose where to search. Because households are the unit of mobility but workers are the unit of matching, the model naturally features two colocation constraints: geographic misalignment in spouses’ earnings prospects and a coordination friction, because moving without job loss requires a double coincidence of offers. Estimated on U.S. data, these constraints amplify gender gaps in employment and wages, reduce migration, especially among power couples, and create persistent trailing-spouse losses borne mainly by women. Remote work mitigates these losses over time by making jobs portable across locations.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanno Foerster & Robert Ulbricht, 2025. "The Two-Body Problem: Dual-Earner Job Search, Migration, and Labor Market Outcomes," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1103, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 23 May 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:1103
    Note: Previously circulated as "The Colocation Friction: Dual-Earner Job Search, Migration, and Labor Market Outcomes"
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Kennan & James R. Walker, 2011. "The Effect of Expected Income on Individual Migration Decisions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 79(1), pages 211-251, January.
    2. Michael Gibbs & Friederike Mengel & Christoph Siemroth, 2023. "Work from Home and Productivity: Evidence from Personnel and Analytics Data on Information Technology Professionals," Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 7-41.
    3. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "Power Couples: Changes in the Locational Choice of the College Educated, 1940–1990," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1287-1315.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & James Liang & John Roberts & Zhichun Jenny Ying, 2015. "Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(1), pages 165-218.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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