The post-move satisfaction of individuals moving within New Zealand

Abstract

<p>People who change their residence voluntarily do so primarily in order to improve their circumstances. A prevailing assumption in the literature is that migration will yield positive returns. A new body of literature now questions both the conceptual and empirical basis for this assumption noting that the range of outcomes and the mover's own individual assessments have often remained untested empirically. In recent years students of migration have been attempting to redress the balance between understanding of the causes of migration on one hand and the way outcomes are distributed across movers on the other. With the increasing application of the large scale social survey the field is able to ask movers themselves to articulate the net returns to their own migration. The analysis of these subjective responses is the primary source of data used by the international literature on post-move satisfaction. What the literature is now showing is that post-move satisfaction can range widely from the negative to the very positive. This is hardly surprising given that residential relocation is a major form of adaption the retrospective judgement of which depends both on expectations and different degrees of realisation. In my research I focus on how satisfied movers say they are with their outcomes of their move. I also address the degree to which levels of satisfaction with specific domains (social, employment, etc) is higher or lower than before the move. Both these questions have been asked in Statistics New Zealand's 2007 Dynamics and Motivations for Migration Survey, along with a wide range of personal, move related and contextual information. This internationally unique instrument which carries the responses of nearly 5000 movers within New Zealand forms the empirical base of my study. The results are instructive. Respondents' satisfaction with the outcomes of internal migration are highly variable, and this variance is systematically related to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the movers. Post-move satisfaction at both the global and domain level is also sensitive to the characteristics of the move itself (whether within or between local labour markets and to distance). The locations involved, as well as changes in mover's personal circumstances over the period also influence the subjective evaluations of the move. There are several reasons for looking closely at post-move satisfaction and why it varies. First, satisfaction has a close and well documented relationship to subsequent moves. Getting the move 'right' may have an important impact on individual's long term welfare as well as their community's satisfaction as a whole. Second, changing dwellings is one of the major adjustments people make in realigning their lives, financially and socially and the ability of people to make accurate decisions which raise their perceived standard of living is important in facilitating well-being in general. The study of post-move satisfaction may also help us judge the optimal realignment of people and places. But in the short run it is probably the way that the post-move satisfaction literature is focussing our attention on the highly variable nature of outcomes of migration which is important. Understanding the reasons for this variability ushers in a new set of challenges to migration theory.</p>