Education and Geographical Mobility: The Role of the Job Surplus

Michael Amior

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2024, vol. 16, issue 4, 341-81

Abstract: Better educated workers accept many more long-distance job offers, and relocate quicker following local shocks. I attribute this to a fundamental feature of their labor market experience, unrelated to geography: large returns to job match quality. If a good offer happens to originate from far away, the match surplus is then more likely to justify the cost of moving. This "lubricates" labor markets spatially. Using wage transition data (and a jobs ladder model), I show this can explain the bulk of mobility differentials. These differentials can be closed by subsidizing long-distance matches, and I quantify the cost of doing so.

JEL-codes: I26 J24 J41 J61 R23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Related works:
Working Paper: Education and geographical mobility: the role of the job surplus (2019)
Working Paper: Education and geographical mobility: the role of the job surplus (2019)
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DOI: 10.1257/pol.20230279

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