EMPLOYMENT STATUS AND THE DECISION TO MIGRATE.

Schlottmann, Alan M.; Herzog, Jr., Henry W.

This study has examined the migration determinants of employed and unemployed members of the labor force, a dimension of worker mobility whose empirical investigation has been precluded by the majority of migration data. For individuals at-risk to either primary or repeat migration, the age and education selectivity of migration were, in general, confirmed. However, for unemployed potential primary migrants, education selectivity was not observed in empirical results. This suggests, perhaps, that unemployed members of the labor force with little or no migration experience are less sensitive to the higher expected income gains to migration attributable to increased education, given their unemployment and a desire to remain at home. Further, the low relative level of educational attainment of these unemployed individuals suggests that they might also be less aware of, or responsive to, alternative employment opportunities elsewhere. Little support was found for the hypothesis that adjustment for employment status will reduce estimates of age selectivity. On the other hand, the hypothesis that such an adjustment would increase estimates of education selectivity was confirmed for employed individuals at-risk to primary migration.

EMIGRATION & immigration; LABOR supply; UNEMPLOYED people; HYPOTHESIS; UNEMPLOYMENT; EMPLOYMENT; INCOME; EDUCATION

Review of Economics & Statistics, 1981, Vol 63, Issue 4, p590

0034-6535

Academic Journal

10.2307/1935855