Interregional migration and post‐move employment in two‐earner families: Evidence from Finland

Nivalainen S. (2005) Interregional migration and post‐move employment in two‐earner families: evidence from Finland, Regional Studies 39 , 891–907. This paper investigates the post‐move employment of men and women in Finnish two‐earner families, taking account of selection bias and heteroskedasticity. A unique data set consisting of actual couples is used. Heteroskedasticity does not seem to be a great problem, but the results demonstrate the importance of the selectivity correction: unobservable characteristics exist that both increase migrants' employment potential and make them more mobile. Migration itself generally exerts a negative effect, i.e. migrants have a lower tendency to be employed than stayers. However, average inspections may mask a wide variation. Extended analysis shows that migration in fact leaves the majority of husbands unaffected, and that some husbands actually benefit from moving. Instead, migration has a negative impact on wives in all cases. Hence, the results suggest that the husband's employment considerations are weighted more, and that wives are often the tied parties in family migration.

Keywords:

• Family migration
• Employment
• Migration de la famille
• Emploi
• Familienumzug
• Erwerbstätigkeit
• Migración familiar
• Empleo
• JEL classifications: J23, J61, R23