Self-selection and internal migration in the United States

Abstract

The Naiiond Lnngil>dind S.wcys (NLs) program supporls m:my sludic$ designed 10 increase "ndcrwandimg of tic labxm market and rncih.ds of dtiru colkxdon The Oi.s.curxion Papers scriw inco~raks some of tie research coming OU1of [he program.Many of the papers in his series have bum dclivcrcd m find mporu+ uxnmissioncd as part of an cxuanmral grant program, under which grams arc aw.wdcd lhrough a competitive process. The series is inmndcd 10 circula!c fit findings 10 inlcrcsmd readers wilhm and oulside the Bureau of L&or Smlislics.Persons inmremd in oblti~ing a copy of any Djscusxion Paper, uthcr NLS rcpor%. or general information about dm NLS progmn and surveys should CUIIIJCIhc BurcmI of Labor Statistics, Office of Eco"omi. Research. W ashingmn. DC 20212-OW1 (202-606-7405),Material in rhis publication is in the public domain and, wi[h appmprialc crcdil. may be reproduced witiout permirsfonOpinions and conclusions expressed in his doc.mcnl arc lhosc of dw audIor(s) and do not necessarily reprcsem an official positim of Lhc S3urcau of IAur SI&dcs or tie U.S. Depaxunenl of Labor. NLS Discussion Papers SeIf-Selection and Internal Migration in the United StatesGeorge J. Borjas University of California at San Diego, and UniconStephen G. Bronars University of Texas, and UniconStephen J. Trejo University of California at Santa Barbara, and Unicon March 1990T&s final paper wasfunded by tfre U.S.Department ofLabor, BureauofLaborStatistics undercontract number J-9-J-7-0393. Opinions stated inthkpa~r do notnece~ariIy represent theofficial position orpolicy ofrhe . U.S.IkpamnentofLabor. SELF-SELBCTION AND INTE8NAL MIGRATION IN THE uNITED STATESGeorge~. Borjas, Stephen G. Bronars, and Stephen J. Tr&jo Executive summarvThe population of the United States is highly mobile. Since the 1960s, aPPrOxi=tely three percent of the population moves across state lines in any given yea:, and 10 percent of the population moves across state lines in a five-year period. In view of-the falling fertility rates of American women, this extensive mobility implies that migration has become an increasingly important source of demographic change in the various regions . .and a msjor determinant of concurrent changes in regional economic growth.Internal migration rates are especially high among the young. ,, In the . National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, over half of the sample are currently (i.e., in 1986) residing in a state other than their state of birth, and about 40 percent are living in a different state than they were at age 14" (see Table 1). The data also indicate that approximately 8 percent of white young men and 6 percent of black and Hispanic young men move across state boundaries in any given year. Our study_presents a theoretical and empirical=analysis of the internal migration of young workers in the United States.Guided by income-maximizing models, previous research has focused on 'explaining" the size and direction of migration flows across areas.Generally, these studies conclude that persons migrate from low-income regions to high-...

The more the merrier? Migration and convergence among European regions

“…Firstly, migration is subject to self-selection, and secondly, migrants appear more "employable" than natives. Borjas, Bronars, and Trejo (1992) nd that within the US, migrants in 1986 had a three percent higher educational attainment on average than non-movers, similar to Shioji (2001). Dolado et al (1994) report that international migrants only bear around 80% of human capital compared to natives.…”

Patterns of Interstate Migration in the United States from the Survey of Income and Program Participation

“…Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) for 1979 to 1986, Borjas et al (1992) found that interstate differences in the returns to skills are an important determinant of the migration decision. Regions that pay higher returns to skills attract more skilled workers than regions that pay lower returns.…”

“…These datasets include the CPS (Basker, 2003, andBlank, 1988), the decennial Census data (Wozniak, 2010;Malamud and Wozniak, 2010;Whisler et al, 2008;Herzog and Schlottmann, 1986), the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, based on Census data Schlottmann, 1983, andRosenbloom andSundstrom, 2003), the NLSY (Haurin and Haurin, 1988;Yankow, 2002Yankow, /2003Yankow, , 2003Borjas et al, 1992), and the PSID (Rodgers andRodgers, 2000, andBlackburn et al, 2010). Additionally, studies have used the Social Security Administration's Continuous Work History Sample (Greenwood, 1986) and data from the IRS (Davies et al, 2001).…”

On the dynamics of interstate migration: Migration costs and self-selection

“…9 Because w A and w B are correlated through the correlation structure in ; it is easier to work with the orthogonal components w + A ; w + B of (w A ; w B ) in the value function iteration.…”