Do Earnings by College Major Affect Graduate Migration?

John Winters

No 9512, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: College graduates are considerably more mobile than non-graduates, and previous literature suggests that the difference is at least partially attributable to college graduates being more responsive to employment opportunities in other areas. However, there exist considerable differences in migration rates by college major that have gone largely unexplained. This paper uses microdata from the American Community Survey to examine how the migration decisions of young college graduates are affected by earnings in their college major. Results indicate that higher major-specific earnings in an individual's state of birth reduce out-migration suggesting that college graduates are attracted toward areas that especially reward the specific type of human capital that they possess.

Keywords: college graduates; college major; graduate migration; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J61 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-geo, nep-hrm, nep-mig and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Forthcoming - published in: Annals of Regional Science, 2017, 59 (3), 629-649

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https://docs.iza.org/dp9512.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Do earnings by college major affect graduate migration? (2017)
Working Paper: Do Earnings by College Major Affect Graduate Migration? (2016)
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