IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/boc/bocoec/1103.html

The Colocation Friction: 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 search model to study job search and migration among dual-earner households. Using the model, we decompose observed gender gaps into exogenous gender differences, which are amplified by a “colocation friction” that is unique to dual-earner households. Estimated for the U.S. labor market, the colocation friction reduces women’s long-term migration gains by 19% and discourages mobility, particularly among “power couples”. The rise of remote work mitigates this friction, cutting average earnings losses by up to 50%.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanno Foerster & Robert Ulbricht, 2025. "The Colocation Friction: Dual-Earner Job Search, Migration, and Labor Market Outcomes," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 1103, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:1103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://fmwww.bc.edu/EC-P/wp1103.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ro’i Zultan & Eldar Dadon, 2023. "Missing the forest for the trees: when monitoring quantitative measures distorts task prioritization," Working Papers 2319, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    2. Alessandra Fenizia & Tom Kirchmaier, 2024. "Not incentivized yet efficient: Working from home in the public sector," CEP Discussion Papers dp2036, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Vij, Akshay & Souza, Flavio F. & Barrie, Helen & Anilan, V. & Sarmiento, Sergio & Washington, Lynette, 2023. "Employee preferences for working from home in Australia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 782-800.
    4. Markus Nagler & Johannes Rincke & Erwin Winkler, 2024. "Working from home, commuting, and gender," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(3), pages 1-23, September.
    5. Masayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Productivity dynamics of remote work during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 317-331, July.
    6. Pablo Zarate & Mathias Dolls & Steven J. Davis & Nicholas Bloom & Jose Maria Barrero & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2024. "Why Does Working from Home Vary Across Countries and People?," NBER Working Papers 32374, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Janice C. dup Eberly & John dup Fernald, 2022. "Jackson Hole 2022 - Reassessing Economic Constraints: Potential Output (The Impact of COVID on Productivity and Potential Output)," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, August.
    8. Lina Vyas, 2022. "“New normal” at work in a post-COVID world: work–life balance and labor markets [An employee-focused human resource management perspective for the management of global virtual teams]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(1), pages 155-167.
    9. Behrens, Kristian & Kichko, Sergei & Thisse, Jacques-Francois, 2024. "Working from home: Too much of a good thing?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    10. Essbaumer, Elisabeth, 2022. "Home Office is here to stay? Access to Home Office and Remote Work Potentials across Swiss Industries," Economics Working Paper Series 2213, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    11. Dan Zhou & Sibo Yang & Xue Li, 2022. "Internet Use and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, September.
    12. John G. Fernald & Huiyu Li, 2022. "The Impact of COVID on Productivity and Potential Output," Working Paper Series 2022-19, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    13. Dahl, Michael S. & Sorenson, Olav, 2010. "The migration of technical workers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 33-45, January.
    14. Filippo Boeri & Riccardo Crescenzi & Davide Rigo, 2025. "Work from Home and Firm Productivity: The Role of ICT and Size," CESifo Working Paper Series 12253, CESifo.
    15. Marie Boltz & Bart Cockx & Ana Maria Diaz & Luz Magdalena Salas, 2023. "How does working‐time flexibility affect workers' productivity in a routine job? Evidence from a field experiment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 159-187, March.
    16. Lee, Kangoh, 2023. "Working from home as an economic and social change: A review," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    17. Christine Braun & Charlie Nusbaum & Peter Rupert, 2021. "Labor Market Dynamics and the Migration Behavior of Married Couples," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 42, pages 239-263, October.
    18. Michele Mariani & Livia Ristuccia & Pasqualino Montanaro, 2023. "Propensity to work remotely in the Bank of Italy: a behavioural analysis," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 753, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    19. Bernardus Doornik & Deniz Igan & Enisse Kharroubi, 2023. "Labour markets: what explains the resilience?," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    20. Nicole Nestoriak & David H. Oh, 2025. "What Makes Work from Home Work? Evidence on Telework and Worker Tasks," NBER Chapters, in: The Changing Nature of Work, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:1103. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/debocus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.