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Education, Job Search and Migration

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  • Emek Basker

    (University of Missouri - Columbia)

Abstract

Job-search and migration behavior differ across educational groups. In this paper, I explore several differences between the migration and search behavior of workers with different levels of education, both theoretically and empirically. I start with two stylized facts. First, the propensity to migrate increases with education. Second, conditional on migration, the probability that a worker moves with a job in hand (rather than moving to search for a job in the new location) also increases with education. I present a simple individual optimization problem that captures these facts and generates a number of predictions about differential sensitivity of migration to observed variables by education. These predictions, including a nonmonotonicity of migration elasticities with respect to business-cycle conditions by educational group, and less-educated groups’ higher sensitivity to local economic conditions in the migration decision, are verified using CPS data.

Suggested Citation

  • Emek Basker, 2003. "Education, Job Search and Migration," Labor and Demography 0303003, EconWPA.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpla:0303003
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on IBM PC - PC-TEX; to print on PostScript; pages: 37 ; figures: included. University of Missouri Working Paper 02-16
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    File URL: http://econwpa.repec.org/eps/lab/papers/0303/0303003.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Spilimbergo, Antonio & Ubeda, Luis, 2004. "A model of multiple equilibria in geographic labor mobility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 107-123, February.
    2. Bartel, Ann P, 1979. "The Migration Decision: What Role Does Job Mobility Play?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 69(5), pages 775-786, December.
    3. Olivier Jean Blanchard & Lawrence F. Katz, 1992. "Regional Evolutions," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 23(1), pages 1-76.
    4. Paolo Mauro & Antonio Spilimbergo, 1999. "How Do the Skilled and the Unskilled Respond to Regional Shocks?: The Case of Spain," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 46(1), pages 1-1.
    5. Coulson, N Edward & Laing, Derek & Wang, Ping, 2001. "Spatial Mismatch in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(4), pages 949-972, October.
    6. Greenwood, Michael J, 1975. "Research on Internal Migration in the United States: A Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 397-433, June.
    7. Pissarides, Christopher A & Wadsworth, Jonathan, 1989. "Unemployment and the Inter-regional Mobility of Labour," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 739-755, September.
    8. Gabriel, Stuart A. & Shack-Marquez, Janice & Wascher, William L., 1993. "Does migration arbitrage regional labor market differentials?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 211-233, April.
    9. Spilimbergo, Antonio & Ubeda, Luis, 2004. "Family attachment and the decision to move by race," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 478-497, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Janice Compton & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "Why Are Power Couples Increasingly Concentrated in Large Metropolitan Areas?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25, pages 475-512.
    2. Terra Mckinnish, 2008. "Spousal Mobility and Earnings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 45(4), pages 829-849, November.
    3. Alessandra Faggian & Jonathan Corcoran & Philip McCann, 2013. "Modelling geographical graduate job search using circular statistics," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(2), pages 329-343, June.
    4. Peter McHenry, 2014. "The Geographic Distribution Of Human Capital: Measurement Of Contributing Mechanisms," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 215-248, March.
    5. Reeder, Richard J. & Brown, Dennis M., 2005. "Recreation, Tourism, and Rural Well-Being," Economic Research Report 7220, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:6984 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Wozniak, Abigail, 2006. "Educational Differences in the Migration Responses of Young Workers to Local Labor Market Conditions," IZA Discussion Papers 1954, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    8. Ronald L. Whisler & Brigitte S. Waldorf & Gordon F. Mulligan & David A. Plane, 2008. "Quality of Life and the Migration of the College-Educated: A Life-Course Approach," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 58-94.
    9. Rubén Hernández-Murillo & Lesli S. Ott & Michael T. Owyang & Denise Whalen, 2011. "Patterns of interstate migration in the United States from the survey of income and program participation," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue May, pages 169-186.
    10. Brigitte Waldorf, 2009. "Is human capital accumulation a self-propelling process? Comparing educational attainment levels of movers and stayers," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(2), pages 323-344, June.
    11. Simona Iammarino & Elisabetta Marinelli, 2012. "Education-Job (Mis)Matching And Interregional Migration: Italian University Graduates’ Transition To Work," Working Papers 8, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Sep 2012.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    migration search unemployment;

    JEL classification:

    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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