Unemployment and Migration: Does Moving Help?
Sari Pekkala Kerr
No 281, Discussion Papers from VATT Institute for Economic Research
Abstract:
This paper studies the migration behaviour of the unemployed in Finland, and analyses the causal effect of moving on individual employment status. In 1994 17 per cent of the labour force was unemployed and the unemployment rate exhibited a very slow decline in 1994-96. Over half of those who were unemployed at the end of 1994 were still unemployed two years later. The propensity to find a job is somewhat greater among migrants. However, the positive effect of moving diminishes once other personal characteristics are accounted for. Moreover, when endogenous migrant selectivity is controlled for, an insignificant or even a negative effect on employment status emerges. This indicates that the better "quality" of the migrants (e.g. age, education, human capital and unobserved ability), rather than the act of moving itself, causes an improvement in re-employability. Hence, migration alone may not be a very effective mechanism for alleviating individual unemployment.
Keywords: Unemployment, migration, employment status, selection bias, Economic growth, Taloudellinen kasvu, Labour market, Työmarkkinat, Policy analysis and modelling, Päätöksenteon tuki ja mallintaminen, J610 - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers, J640 - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search, (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002
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