Working Paper: NBER ID: w10633
Authors: Jennifer Hunt
Abstract: I examine the determinants of inter-state migration of adults within western Germany, using the German Socio-Economic Panel from 1984-2000. I highlight the prevalence and distinctive characteristics of migrants who do not change employers. Same-employer migrants represent one fifth of all migrants higher education and pre-move wages than non-migrants. Conditional on age, same-employer migrants are therefore more skilled than non-migrants. By contrast, although other migrants have higher education than non-migrants, they do not have higher pre-move wages. Furthermore, they have in their ranks disproportionate numbers of the non-employed, unemployed and recently laid off. It therefore seems inappropriate to characterize them as more skilled than non-migrants. The results for same-employer migrants indicate that skilled workers have a low-cost migration avenue that has not been considered in the previous literature. I also analyze the relation between repeat and return migration and distinguish between short and long-distance migration. I confirm that long-distance migrants are more skilled than short-distance migrants, as predicted by theory, and I show that return migrants are a mix of successes and failures.
Keywords: migration; skilled migrants; same-employer migrants; return migration; labor market
JEL Codes: J6
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Same-employer migrants (J61) | higher skill levels (J24) |
| Unemployed migrants (J68) | lower skill levels (J24) |
| Long-distance migrants (F22) | higher skill levels (J24) |
| Prior employment status and individual characteristics (J63) | outcomes of return migration (J61) |