Worker intra‐urban residential migration and spatial labour market change in Melbourne's functional economic regions

Abstract

This paper investigates the intra‐urban residential migration of workers in Melbourne and assesses the spatial effects of this dynamic on urban internal structure and spatial labour markets. Intra‐urban migration is an important category of internal migration that relocates human and social capital in urban areas, contributing to changes in urban residential and labour market structure. This paper fills the gap in internal migration literature by determining spatial residential movement dynamics through a spatial analysis of census‐based intra‐urban migration flow data. In addition to detailed migration flow analysis undertaken at a local scale, the paper contributes an improved economic data geography based on functional economic regions (FERs) that permits analysis of the intersection of worker migration flows with sub‐metropolitan labour markets. Our results show that intra‐urban migration results in a strong outward flow of workers in Melbourne, which primarily appears to be shaped by spatial housing markets. This process, in turn, contributes to the dispersion of labour markets in Melbourne, complicating policy aims concerning urban agglomeration and limiting urban spatial expansion.

Intra-urban migration and perceptions of neighborhood cohesion in urban China: The case of Guangzhou

“…Intra-urban migration shapes not only the physical living environment but also the social environment (Keunen and Ley, 2023; Li and Dodson, 2023). While the impacts of intra-urban migration have been widely researched, very little of that research focus on features of intra-urban migration in a Chinese context.…”

“…Intra-urban migration or residential mobility refers to migration within an urban area. It has been primarily viewed as an adjustment to spatial housing equilibrium ever since the publication of Rossi’s (1955) classic work (Brown and Moore, 1970; Huang and Deng, 2006; Li, 2004; Li and Dodson, 2023). It is a much more common experience than interregional and international migration, which refers to a change in residential location over longer distances (Li and Dodson, 2023).…”

“…It has been primarily viewed as an adjustment to spatial housing equilibrium ever since the publication of Rossi’s (1955) classic work (Brown and Moore, 1970; Huang and Deng, 2006; Li, 2004; Li and Dodson, 2023). It is a much more common experience than interregional and international migration, which refers to a change in residential location over longer distances (Li and Dodson, 2023). With improvements in transportation infrastructure, developments in new technologies, and increased labor mobility resulting from globalization and economic development, intra-urban migration has greatly increased throughout the world.…”

Internal migration and settlement patterns in Australia's regional urban centres

“…Studies also show that the drivers of regional migration and metropolitan migration vary, resulting in different underlying patterns. Migration within metropolitan areas follows the utility maximization principle (Fujita, 1989) and is often associated with household housing change, workplace change, and education factors (Burnley et al, 2007;Li & Dodson, 2023), whereas migration across regional areas is driven by factors such as family ties, economic and career opportunity, environmental quality, and comparative housing affordability (Crommelin et al, 2022;Denham, 2021a;Vij et al, 2021). The relationship between migration and economic opportunities have been examined by regional economists, who found that income, employment opportunity and other financial benefit is an important force driving regional migration (Hunt, 2006;Jennissen, 2003;Rodríguez-Pose & Ketterer, 2012;Simionescu et al, 2016).…”